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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas listening to U.S. President George W. Bush speak at the White House on Wednesday. (Ch. 10)
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Bush says Israeli, Palestinian leaders off to a hopeful start
By Barak Ravid , Aluf Benn, and Assaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Tags: Condoleezza Rice, Annapolis 

United States President George W. Bush, capping an intense flurry of diplomatic activity, said Wednesday the agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume long-stalled peace talks was a hopeful beginning.

Bush was joined at the White House by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a brief ceremony a day after they agreed to try to reach an agreement by the end of 2008.

"One thing I have assured both gentlemen is that the United States will be actively engaged in the process," Bush said. "We will use our power to help you as you come up with the necessary decisions to lay out a Palestinian state that will live side-by-side in peace with Israel."
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"Yesterday was an important day, and it was a hopeful beginning," Bush said, referring to the one-day peace conference held Tuesday in Annapolis. "No matter how important yesterday was, it's not nearly as important as tomorrow and the days beyond. I appreciate the commitment of these leaders, working hard to achieve peace. I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't believe that peace was possible, and they wouldn't be here either if they didn't think peace was possible."

Unlike their three-way handshake on Tuesday, the leaders did not shake hands at the White House.

"I appreciate your courage and leadership," Bush said. "It's an honor to call you friends. And it's an honor to have watched you yesterday as you laid out your respective visions for something we all want, which is peace in the holy land."

"What has been remarkable about this process is that they are now ready to go," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told ABC during a round of TV interviews Wednesday morning in which she praised unprecedented support for the peace process from Arab states.

"It's going to be hard, but you had support in that room that you had not had from Arab states in the past," Rice said on NBC.

White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Wednesday that President George W. Bush will not force a solution on Israelis and Palestinians nor impose a U.S. peace plan as they work toward Middle East peace.

"The president will not force a resolution of differences nor impose a peace plan with his name on it," Hadley said in prepared remarks for a speech on the Middle East at Johns Hopkins University.

"What the president will do is use his relationships with the parties to help them build the confidence necessary to make hard choices for peace. He has made clear that he is only a phone call away," Hadley said.

The final status negotiations will begin on December 12, Olmert and Abbas announced in a joint statement read out by Bush at the conference in Annapolis on Tuesday.

On Tuesday following the meeting, Bush admitted to reporters that he was worried about the consequences if peace talks failed, but said: "It is worth it to try."

"I don't think it's a risk to try for peace," he said. "I think it's an obligation."

In a meeting with Olmert and Abbas before the conference, Bush said that the U.S. would not impose a solution on the parties, but would assist them.

In the joint statement, which was finalized only a few minutes before the conference, Olmert and Abbas promised to try to conclude the final-status agreement by the end of 2008. However, implementation of the agreement will be conditional on fulfillment of each side's obligations under the road map peace plan.

Both sides agreed that Washington will determine whether those obligations have been fulfilled. Bush has chosen General Jim Jones, a former commander of both NATO and the American forces in Europe, to serve as the arbiter, and Jones is due to arrive in the region in the coming days.

The first stage of the road map requires the Palestinians to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and Israel to freeze settlement construction and dismantle illegal outposts.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed a follow-up conference in Moscow in the spring of 2008. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa supported this idea, and said that negotiations should be expanded to include Syria and Lebanon as well.

The Saudi foreign minister also urged that negotiations begin on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks, adding that much is riding on the success of the Annapolis initiative. He urged Israel to freeze construction of the settlements and the "wall" (i.e. the separation fence), free prisoners and evacuate outposts.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the Arab states to "get off the fence" and understand that normalization is not a prize for Israel. She proposed normalization in stages.

Addressing the Palestinians, she urged them to stop mourning Israel's establishment and instead build a state of their own.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged the Palestinians to "say goodbye to violence" and promised to do whatever he could to help the negotiations succeed.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the Annapolis summit's closing speech that the negotiations for a final settlement must not be allowed to fail.

"No one believes that failure is an option," Rice told reporters at the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. She also stated that peace between Israelis and Palestinians is a national interest of the U.S.

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  1.   In light of the refusal to include in the oppening statement 08:31  |  Nahumi 28/11/07
  2.   THE MOTHER OF ALL DIPLOMACIES 08:45  |  indrajaya 28/11/07
  3.   Why is President Bush 08:54  |  DoD 28/11/07
  4.   NO go without syria and saudi arabia, just.. 09:24  |  VIPER 28/11/07
  5.   Bye bye Rice! 09:26  |  Moishe Kadish 28/11/07
  6.   Israel wants peace 09:39  |  Clickfool 28/11/07
  7.   There is more than 50 Palestinians State. Israel is Jewish State 09:44  |  e.m 28/11/07
  8.   There is more than 50 Palestinians State. Israel is Jewish State 09:44  |  e.m 28/11/07
  9.   There is more than 50 Palestinians State. Israel is Jewish State 09:44  |  e.m 28/11/07
  10.   There is more than 50 Palestinians State. Israel is Jewish State 09:44  |  e.m 28/11/07
  11.   There is more than 50 Palestinians State. Israel is Jewish State 09:44  |  e.m 28/11/07
  12.   How Is This Conference Different From All Other Conferences? 09:52  |  Yaakov Sullivan 28/11/07
  13.   More Idiocy from # 2 09:55  |  DoD 28/11/07
  14.   The most important fact of history is... 10:08  |  Natallie Durson 28/11/07
  15.   Amen # 5 Moishe 10:14  |  DoD 28/11/07
  16.   What Jewish state 10:16  |  Concerned citizen 28/11/07
  17.   indrajaya sample of true AlQaida 10:17  |  e.m 28/11/07
  18.   ONLY SOLUTION: GAZA UNDER EGYPT; PARTS OF W.BANK LINKED TO JORDAN 10:19  |  G. Marcus 28/11/07
  19.   For the first time the Palestinians seem to be the lucky guys.... 10:22  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/11/07
  20.   DoD are you actually serious in this paranoid rant? #3 10:30  |  Yaakov Sullivan 28/11/07
  21.   G.Marcus on his solution #18 10:35  |  Yaakov Sullivan 28/11/07
  22.   DURSON Most important fact Arabs tried to steal it ALL 10:36  |  PETER SM 28/11/07
  23.   Re: # 1 Nahumi - Exactly right. 10:42  |  Eitan 28/11/07
  24.   Peace may be picking up momentum 10:47  |  Michael 28/11/07
  25.   PETER SM "Sweet talk in English for infidels" 10:51  |  Yaakov Sullivan 28/11/07
  26.   Much hurrumphing from Clickfool! 10:53  |  W.Anchor 28/11/07
  27.   # 20 Yaakov Sullivan.... Are you really this blind? 10:59  |  DoD 28/11/07
  28.   For Peter SM, on "Arabs wanting to steal it all" # 22 11:06  |  Clickfool 28/11/07
  29.   DoD, then I suggest you look at other textbooks 11:09  |  Yaakov Sullivan 28/11/07
  30.   For W.Anchor # 26 11:10  |  Clickfool 28/11/07
  31.   `I am as serene as ever.` 11:18  |  W.Anchor 28/11/07
  32.   #27: DoD on JudArabs 11:24  |  Interested 28/11/07
  33.   For W.Anchor # 32 11:31  |  Clickfool 28/11/07
  34.   #31, W.ANCHOR or wanker? 11:33  |  VIPER 28/11/07
  35.   Marcus#18: WHAT A STUPID PROPOSITION 11:35  |  TrippleJump 28/11/07
  36.   JudArabs 11:43  |  DoD 28/11/07
  37.   Tripple jump #35 11:53  |  Avi Yerushalmi 28/11/07
  38.   Trippple Jump 12:02  |  Avi Yerushalmi 28/11/07
  39.   A PALESTINIAN DIALOGUE 12:41  |  Jay A Friedman 28/11/07
  40.   What! Obligations? 12:51  |  Axel 28/11/07
  41.   CFOOL The Arabs got 80+% of the mandate. 12:52  |  PETER S.M. 28/11/07
  42.   SULLIVAN what is said in the OFFICIAL Pal media in Arabic 12:55  |  PETER S .M. 28/11/07
  43.   And the response from the Palestinians is...... 12:58  |  Ari ben Yisrael 28/11/07
  44.   Bleating & bleating by Viper & Click.... 13:16  |  W(illiam) Anchor 28/11/07
  45.   # 1 Nahumi - How common your views in Israel? 13:34  |  Roger 28/11/07
  46.   364 days left 13:44  |  Chris Linthwaite 28/11/07
  47.   Indrajaya, we all know this "mammoth problem" could be settled in 13:47  |  one word 28/11/07
  48.   Its clear 13:52  |  Richard Witty 28/11/07
  49.   bush in wonder land where sense and logic depart entirely 13:54  |  victor hardman 28/11/07
  50.   ANNAPOLIS 14:02  |  GABE1 28/11/07
  51.   The Palestinians will need help eraticating terrorism 14:03  |  Virginia 28/11/07
  52.   a quisling is a quisling is a quisling,apart from that he does 14:05  |  lakshmi 28/11/07
  53.   USE A MAGIC STICK, YOU MAKE THE PALESTINIANS DISAPPEAR! 14:09  |  TrippleJump 28/11/07
  54.   The first victory 14:23  |  Tzfonit 28/11/07
  55.   Hello Ari Ben Yisrael 14:32  |  Tzfonit 28/11/07
  56.   DEJA VU 14:44  |  Ian 28/11/07
  57.   Bush fiddles while Rome burns 14:44  |  rob 28/11/07
  58.   Lakshmi`s authority.... 14:45  |  W.Anchor 28/11/07
  59.   roger (45) nahumi`s opinion is fairly common in Israel 14:46  |  daniellah 28/11/07
  60.   Hi there Tzfonit......................Agreed 14:49  |  Ari ben Yisrael 28/11/07
  61.   # 43 ari 14:51  |  Axel 28/11/07
  62.   Tzfonit aka Bracha #54/55 14:52  |  GABE1 28/11/07
  63.   Impossible for the US to be an honest broker.China could be. 14:54  |  Toronto`s Finest 28/11/07
  64.   # 47, VIRGINIA 14:56  |  indrajaya 28/11/07
  65.   Indy....Fortunately the Maliki Gov 14:56  |  Lynn 28/11/07
  66.   # 43 Ari.And the Israelis respond by.... 15:01  |  Toronto`s Finest 28/11/07
  67.   #53 triple sec and tripe cooked together 15:01  |  victor hardman 28/11/07
  68.   Ari Ben Yisrael 15:02  |  Tzfonit 28/11/07
  69.   Swiss...Pals have benefitted for years 15:02  |  Lynn 28/11/07
  70.   Ari Ben Deluded 15:06  |  GABE1 28/11/07
  71.   # 24 Michael.....I`m with you on that 15:06  |  Lynn 28/11/07
  72.   # 51 Virginia 15:10  |  Lynn 28/11/07
  73.   # 65, LYNN 15:29  |  indrajaya 28/11/07
  74.   Condi AKA Darth Vader 15:57  |  W.Anchor 28/11/07
  75.   GOOD TO INCENTIVATE PEACE BETW ISR-SYR-LEB! 16:04  |  Moise 28/11/07
  76.   Indy # 64, Love the nickname "Virgy",I`m preceiving it a sign of 16:14  |  AFFECTION 28/11/07
  77.   Indeed He is Lynn, God Loves all He has created. 16:19  |  Virginia 28/11/07