Rice: U.S. will try to close Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in the next year - Haaretz

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Thu., November 22, 2007 Kislev 12, 5768

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		U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice looking on as U.S. President George Bush meets with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in New York earlier this year. (AP)

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Rice: U.S. will try to close Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in the next year

By The Associated Press

Tags: U.S., Condoleezza Rice

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the U.S. will try to close a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before President George W. Bush's term ends in January 2009, but she cautioned there is no guarantee of success.

Rice said Israeli and Palestinian leaders have pledged to work for a
deal setting up an independent Palestinian state before Bush leaves office.

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"We all know how long that is - it's about a year," Rice told reporters. "That's what we will try to do."

Rice said success is not guaranteed during that period.

Rice and Bush are hosting Israeli and Palestinian leaders next week in Washington and at an
international conference in Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. The conference is aimed at launching the first direct negotiations on a peace deal in seven years.

Rice said the Annapolis session is an important launching pad for talks to settle Israel's conflict with the Palestinians and the two nations' disputes over land, statehood and rights.

Rice added that the United States will give room for other conflicts to be aired at Annapolis, including Syria's dispute with Israel over the Israeli-held Golan Heights.

She did not say exactly who will attend, and the guest list is not expected to be final until this weekend.

Bush called Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday to discuss the conference. The U.S. president also phoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the session, the White House said.

Egypt is one of only two Arab states that have negotiated peace deals with Israel, and the country is serving as something of a go-between for other Arab nations in the run-up to Annapolis. Egypt has pledged to attend.

The invitations to the three-day session went out Tuesday after months of intense diplomacy. The Bush administration announced few details beyond the dates and a cursory schedule.

The two sides are expected to present a joint statement on resuming peace talks at Annapolis, yet less than a week before their delegations are to arrive in the United States, the document exists only in vague form.

Rice said the document's focus changed during weeks of preliminary meetings between Olmert and Abbas and ultimately became less important as the two leaders decided between them that they wanted to begin full negotiations.

The conference will be anchored around a marathon session next Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, to be opened by Bush. The U.S. president is to meet with Olmert and Abbas and address a dinner of all participants in Washington the day before.

Back in Washington on Wednesday, Bush plans to see Olmert and Abbas again privately for a third time in as many days, ostensibly to seal their intent to create a Palestinian state by the end of his second term.

The intense White House involvement in a meeting that was planned to be run almost entirely by Rice when first broached in July took some by surprise and was seen as a sign Bush is making a serious bid for a Middle East foreign policy success. He leaves office in January 2009.

"This conference will be a launching point for negotiations leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace," said White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Aside from Olmert and Abbas, who received their invitations ahead of the 47 other countries, organizations and individuals on the U.S. made few immediate public commitments to participate at the foreign minister level that the United States wants.

The invitation list includes select members of the Arab League, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Middle East envoy for the Quartet of peacemakers former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Group of Eight industrialized nations and the European Union.

Among Muslim countries, there has been great suspicion of the conference with many nations questioning the Bush administration's ability to forge peace, particularly between two leaders, Olmert and Abbas, weakened by internal political turmoil.

U.S. officials, led by Bush and Rice - the secretary has made eight trips to the region this year - insist that the talks will be serious and substantive, not merely a photo opportunity, and also will address the issue of a broader Arab-Israeli peace.

Related articles:

Rice: Mideast summit must be 'substantive', advance PA state

FM Livni says Israel agrees to discuss terms of Palestinian state

Rice: Israel and PA clinch deal on Gaza-Egypt border crossing

Rice: U.S. will double its efforts to aid Palestinians

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1.	deja vu or tell us the old old story	22:39	\|	victor hardman	21/11/07

2.	The Girl from Phantasia	23:33	\|	Tosefta	21/11/07

3.	Prediction: Low level Arab attendance	23:40	\|	Tosefta	21/11/07

4.	Terminology	23:42	\|	Tosefta	21/11/07

5.	Of course there is no guarantee of success	23:46	\|	Johnny Weintraub	21/11/07

6.	Unprecedented global meeting for unprecedented global problem	23:51	\|	Ivar	21/11/07

7.	Peace with the Arabs	00:05	\|	David Bergman	22/11/07

8.	IDF,ARREST OLMERT BEFORE ANNAPOLIS, BEFORE HE BETRAYS THE NATION)	00:07	\|	VOICE of MOSHIACH)))	22/11/07

9.	The old quisling rubbing shoulders with Dubiya,a dream come true!	00:07	\|	lakshmi	22/11/07

10.	Bells are ringing	00:26	\|	Mark Lincoln	22/11/07

11.	America is dumping Israel	01:00	\|	Wendy	22/11/07

12.	Didn`t she call for a Palestinian state by 2005?	01:01	\|	peacelover	22/11/07

13.	The Girl from Phantasia	01:33	\|	Tosefta	22/11/07

14.	#7 Lincoln - Condi has a job lined up	02:07	\|	* BEN JABO	22/11/07

15.	#9 Peacelover - Let us not forget	02:10	\|	* BEN JABO	22/11/07

16.	#9-2 Peacelover	02:26	\|	* BEN JABO	22/11/07

17.	#6 God bless you	03:01	\|	sal	22/11/07

18.	Folks..	03:23	\|	Joseph	22/11/07

19.	Given the obstacles from opponents - U.S.,Israeli & Palestinian	06:27	\|	Smadar	22/11/07

20.	Rice - Experience your PHONY Peace-LIVE in Sderot	06:47	\|	Linda Rivera	22/11/07

21.	Desperately seeking Rice in need of a success story in the ME.	07:11	\|	Daniel	22/11/07

22.	A Fake meeting	07:49	\|	Atoo Landarv	22/11/07

23.	No different from one administration, except for one thing	08:21	\|	Natallie Durson	22/11/07

24.	G-D WILLING AMERICA WILL BE DESTROYED!	08:23	\|	THE END IS NEAR	22/11/07

25.	Daniel, 21, the final nature of the present effort IS the issue!	08:45	\|	Ivar	22/11/07

26.	No deal will be forthcoming without the Palestinian	09:07	\|	Daniela Yariv	22/11/07

27.	What peace conference?	09:30	\|	The Arab Hammer	22/11/07

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