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President Shimon Peres toasting newly appointed justices at the president's residence in Jerusalem last week. (Daniel Bar On/ Jini) del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 11:12 22/11/2007 Peres: Peace deal impossible to reach before Bush term ends By News Agencies Tags: Annapolis, Ehud Olmert  A final Middle East peace accord will be impossible to reach before US President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009, President Shimon Peres said in remarks published Thursday. "It is theoretically possible to reach an agreement during the term of President Bush but it is practically impossible," Peres told Japan's Tokyo Shimbun in an interview in Jerusalem. Advertisement The United States plans to hold a peace conference next week in Annapolis near Washington involving officials from more than 40 countries including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "Nobody has hopes for its outcome, but it will be the beginning of new peace negotiations," Peres was quoted as saying. More important discussions on major disputes, such as the status of Palestinian refugees, would come after the conference, he said. The remarks came a week after Peres, in an address to the Turkish parliament, hailed the conference as "an historic opportunity that should not turn into an historic failure". Intensive negotiations have so far failed to produce an agreement on the Annapolis meeting's joint declaration, which is meant to serve as the basis for talks on a permanent settlement. 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 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. "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 Olmert and 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 Bookmark to del.icio.us The Syrian secret The IAF didn't target a nuclear reactor, but something far more vicious. In good company Study: Young U.S. Jews are most comfortable when surrounded by non-Jews.   1.   MR PERES peace impossible while you are stil her 13:15  |  Khalil Ishabib 22/11/07   2.   Bush/israel biggest war instigators 13:24  |  unhappy camper 22/11/07   3.   Bush/israel biggest war instigators 13:24  |  unhappy camper 22/11/07   4.   Israel = NO PEACE 14:20  |  POP 22/11/07   5.   A MAN FROM THE PAST 15:00  |  indrajaya 22/11/07   6.   BUSH SHOULD STAY AND OLMERT SHOULD GO 15:01  |  Lou Knee 22/11/07   7.   Peres speaks the truth, but not all of it 15:17  |  Natallie Durson 22/11/07   8.   Already a Palestinian State 15:36  |  Johnny Weintraub 22/11/07   9.   Peace deal impossible ...period 15:56  |  Rabbi Izzy Lahm 22/11/07   10.   The PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Call for the MURDER of ALL JEWS 16:21  |  Linda Rivera 22/11/07   11.   Peace deal. 16:28  |  David Nigel Braham 22/11/07   12.   Arab-Israeli Peace Initiative. 00:58  |  sandra chitayat 23/11/07

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