A glance at past Mideast peacemaking By The Associated Press A look at Mideast peace conferences with U.S. involvement:
NOV 25,07
Sept. 5-17, 1978, Camp David, Thurmont, Md.:
Participants: President Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
Details: Sadat and Begin sign agreements with Carter developing a framework for peace. Under the first, Israel returns the Sinai, occupied in 1967, for peace. Talks fail on the second agreement for an elected authority replacing Israel's military governments in the West Bank and Gaza.
March 1979, Washington, DC:
Participants: Begin, Sadat and Carter
Details: Israel agrees to give the Sinai back to Egypt, but keep the Gaza Strip. The agreement prompted Arab states to boycott Egypt.
Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 1991, Madrid, Spain:
Participants: President George H.W. Bush, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Secretary of State James Baker, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Jordanian Foreign Minister Kamel Abu Jaber, chief Palestinian delegate Haider Abdul-Shafi, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa.
• Details: Bush called for peace with security and diplomatic and economic relations. Direct talks begin among Israel and Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
September 1993, Washington:
Participants: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, PLO executive council member Mahmoud Abbas, President Clinton.
Details: Witnessed by Clinton and former Presidents Bush and Carter at the White House, Peres and Abbas signed the Oslo accord, which had been negotiated in secret meetings shepherded by a Norwegian group of academics and lower-level officials. The deal included mutual recognition between Israel and Arafat's PLO and allowed for the creation of a Palestinian autonomy government in the West Bank and Gaza. Tough issues — the fate of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, Palestinian refugees — were left for final status talks.
Oct. 15-23, 1998, Wye River Conference Centers, Queenstown, Md.:
Participants: Clinton, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Details: Israel agrees to hand over an additional 13 percent of the West Bank (bringing Palestinian control to about 40 percent), release Palestinian prisoners and lift trade restrictions. Palestinians agree to arrest militants, give up some guns and annul a clause in their charter that negated Israel's right to exist. The sides also agree to report on security cooperation to CIA envoys, which is still in practice.
January 2000, Shepherdstown, W.Va.:
Participants: Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and al-Sharaa.
Details: The talks fail over details of an Israeli offer to withdraw from the Golan Heights, a strategic enclave captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war.
July 11-25, 2000, Camp David:
Participants: Clinton, Arafat and Barak.
Details: Clinton meets with Arafat and Barak after the deadline for interim accords expires. Israel offers a Palestinian state in Gaza and most of West Bank, with a Jerusalem foothold, but disagreements remain, including a demand by Arafat for a right to resettle Palestinian refugees in Israel. Fighting erupts two months later and the effort eventually collapses.
Arab states must not meddle in talks with Palestinians, says Israel FM by Ron Bousso Sun Nov 25, 8:11 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday welcomed Arab states attending a peace meeting in the US but said they should not be involved in bilateral talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The Arab world is not supposed to define the terms of the negotiations or be involved in them, she told reporters on board Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plane to Washington ahead of the Tuesday meeting in Annapolis, Maryland.
More than a dozen of Arab states, most of which do not have official ties with Israel, are planned to attend the peace meeting aimed at offering backing for the renewal of bilateral Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.Livni welcomed the Arab participation at the summit, saying the meeting has forced them off the fence to actively support moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
There isn't a single Palestinian who can reach an agreement with Israel without the support of the Arab world, she added.The meeting also allows to divide the moderate Arab and Muslim states from the radicals, led by Iran, Livni said.
This week's image will be one dividing moderates and radicals. We will have a cristalisation of the two camps. There is one that will attend the Annapolis meeting and the other one that shouts -- Iran, Hamas and radicals, she said.Iran on Sunday dismissed the meeting as having no purpose and slammed Arab states for taking part in it.The so-called conference... is of no benefit to the Palestinian people and has the aim of supporting the occupying Zionists, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.The foreign minister also said that Israel dropped its initial objections to raise the issue of the occupied Golan Heights during the meeting, which Syria demanded as a condition for its participation.I believe that Syria has taken a decision to attend the meeting because we included the term comprehnsive peace in the agenda, she said.There will be a plenary session which I will also attend and where issues pertaining to the comprehensive peace in the Middle East can be discussed, and that includes everything. The Golan could also be raised there, she said.
Before leaving Tel Aviv Saturday, Olmert said he would welcome Syrian participation in the meeting.If the negotiations with the Syrians narrow down, I will consider them positively, Olmert said.
Peace negotiations between Israel and Syria broke down in 2000 over the fate of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel captured in 1967 and Syria wants Israel to return.
Rice to meet with key negotiators ahead of Mideast peace talks NOV 25,07
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to meet Sunday with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in a last-minute bid to forge a joint document ahead of a US-hosted peace conference, officials said. Rice was to hold talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qorei, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.Qorei will meet with Livni and Rice to try to reach a joint document which will be presented to the Annapolis meeting on Tuesday, Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.Israeli officials also confirmed that the meeting was to take place later Sunday at the State Department.The meeting comes as Israeli and Palestinian leaders and delegates from dozens of other countries began arriving in Washington for the meeting the administration of US President George W. Bush has touted as the first major push for Israeli-Palestinian peace in seven years.Syria said on Sunday it would also participate in the meeting, bringing to at least 16 the number of Arab states the Bush administration has managed to persuade to join the conference Tuesday in Annapolis, Maryland.
Israel swiftly welcomed Syria's decision, saying it could also open a possible peace track between the two Middle East neighbours.
Israel sees in a positive way the high-ranking participation of Syria at the Annapolis meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin told AFP.Olmert arrived in Washington on Sunday and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas flew in late Saturday ahead of the conference in which they will seek to start negotiations for a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel.
Syria, which is sending Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, had conditioned its participation on having the occupied Golan Heights put on the Annapolis agenda.Livni on Sunday confirmed Israel had dropped its initial objections to raising the Golan Heights during the conference.Livni said Israel welcomed Arab states attending the meeting but said they should not be involved in bilateral talks between Israel and the Palestinians.The Arab world is not supposed to define the terms of the negotiations or be involved in them, she told reporters earlier on board Olmert's plane bound for Washington.
By having both sides delve straight into the thorniest issues like the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, the US administration says it aims to clinch a final deal before Bush leaves office in January 2009.Failure is not an option, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said.Washington pushed for a massive conference -- gathering nearly 50 countries and organizations -- in order to throw the broadest international support possible behind the courageous efforts of Olmert and Abbas.
In a coup for US diplomacy, a reluctant Saudi Arabia will sit at the same table with the Jewish state for the first time to discuss Middle East peacemaking.Saudi Arabia has never recognized Israel and no senior figure from the state has held public talks with Israeli officials except for meetings at the United Nations and a 1996 international summit on fighting terrorism. Saudi Arabia is the architect of an Arab peace initiative offering formal Arab diplomatic ties with Israel in return for an Israeli pullout from all land occupied in the 1967 war. In launching a new push for peace, the United States wants moderate Arab states involved, arguing that all sides share a concern about Iran's rising influence following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Bush will have to dispel Arab doubts he will drop his pro-Israel stance enough to wring meaningful concessions from the Jewish state. In the runup to Annapolis, Israel freed Palestinian prisoners and stopped new settlements. Major differences remain between the Israelis and Palestinians over core issues like the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees. The peace process has been frozen since former US president Bill Clinton tried to broker a final settlement near the end of his presidency in 2000.
Syria to join U.S.-led Middle East conference By Jeffrey Heller and Mohammed Assadi NOV 25,07
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Syria said on Sunday it will attend a U.S.-led conference aimed at launching talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, giving another boost to U.S. efforts to enlist wide Arab support for a new peace drive. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Washington, where they will meet U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday and then attend Tuesday's conference in Annapolis, Maryland that is expected to launch formal negotiations to end the six-decade conflict.The meeting represents Bush's most serious effort to solve the conflict seven years after his predecessor Bill Clinton failed to broker a settlement, but all sides have played down the chances of a breakthrough at the conference or soon after.In a sign of the challenges, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned to hold a three-way meeting with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Sunday to try to win agreement on a joint document that is to be presented at Annapolis but is not yet agreed, a Palestinian official said.
Palestinian and Israeli officials played down the importance of reaching agreement on a joint document, saying the most important thing was that Annapolis should launch substantive peace talks.
Ending weeks of uncertainty, the official Syrian news agency said Syria has accepted the American invitation and will send an official delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad.While the decision to send only a deputy foreign minister might seem a snub, it was a victory for the Bush administration that Syria, a long-time foe of Israel, chose to attend at all.
Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin called the Syrian decision a positive move, saying the Israeli-Palestinian track would stay the main focus of the meeting although Syria's participation could open additional avenues to peace in the Middle East.Syria, Israel's neighbor to the north, had insisted the meeting also deal with the future of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights captured in the 1967 Middle East war.Israel and Syria last held peace negotiations in 2000, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, but could not reach a deal on the Golan, which overlooks the Sea of Galilee, the Jewish state's main reservoir.
ARAB PARTICIPATION
Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah told reporters that Rice called Abbas on Sunday to try to bridge the gap between the two sides and planned to hold a three-way meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Ahmed Qurei, the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, later in the day.A senior Israeli official said Rice would host Livni at her residence at Washington's Watergate apartment complex but did not say whether the Palestinians would attend the meeting.Any effort to bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians faces myriad challenges.Abbas in June lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas Islamists, who are not invited to Annapolis and have criticized it. Hamas's armed wing vowed to keep fighting Israel and said any concessions would be tantamount to treason.Olmert himself is unpopular with voters, not least due to corruption accusations, and faces opposition to concessions from right-wing members in his fragile governing coalition.
Bush has only 14 months left in power.
Faced with the legacy of an unpopular war in Iraq, the conference gives Bush a chance for diplomatic success in the Middle East -- an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal all sides say they hope to achieve before he leaves office in January 2009. The mere attendance at talks with Israel of Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Syria, which have had cold-to-hostile relations with the Jewish state, appeared to improve chances for an eventual, wider peace. Livni told reporters that that without support from other Arabs, there was not a single Palestinian who could reach a deal with Israel. The prospect of better ties with Arab neighbors could also help Olmert sell any deal. At Annapolis, Israel and the Palestinians are expected to reaffirm commitments under the U.S.-backed road map to peace, agreed in 2003. Israel has made any final deal conditional on Abbas carrying out a commitment to rein in militants. Palestinians demand Israel fulfill its promise under the plan to halt settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.
Olmert told reporters on his plane he hoped Annapolis would launch serious negotiations on all the core issues that will result in a solution of two states for two peoples.In Jerusalem, Israeli police set up roadblocks to try to avert violence after a security alert. Israeli troops killed three Palestinian gunmen in raids in Gaza and the West Bank. (Additional reporting by Wafa Amr in Ramallah and Avida Landau in Jerusalem, writing by Jeffrey Heller, Rebecca Harrison and Arshad Mohammed, editing by David Storey)
