WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US-championed Middle East peace summit hit an early snag Monday as Palestinian and Israeli negotiators struggled to agree on a written framework for future negotiations, officials said.
US President George W. Bush met with leaders from both sides in his Oval Office and later urged all parties to make the "difficult compromises" needed to midwife a Palestinian state living side by side at peace with Israel.
Bush, speaking on the eve of the high-stakes conference in Annapolis, Maryland, said he was "optimistic" about restarting peace talks after a seven-year freeze and reaffirmed what critics have called his wobbly personal stake in the effort.
"Tonight, I restate my personal commitment on behalf of the United States for all those in the Middle East who wish to live in freedom and peace. We stand with you at the Annapolis conference and beyond," he said in a two-minute toast.
"Achieving this goal requires difficult compromises and the Israelis and Palestinians have elected leaders committed to making them," said Bush, whose term ends in roughly 14 months.
Bush, who is making his strongest push for peace in seven years in office, heard broadly optimistic forecasts in separate White House talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
"This time it's different" because of the wider array of participants, Olmert said of the conference, which has drawn more than 50 organizations and countries including some 16 Arab nations.
Abbas was also upbeat as he met Bush, even though the Islamist movement Hamas, which romped to victory in January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary polls, said the Palestinians would not be bound by any decisions taken in Annapolis.
"We have a great deal of hope that this conference will produce permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations, over all permanent status issues that would lead to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people," Abbas said.
So-called "final status" issues group areas of major disagreement between Israelis and Palestinians on things like the borders of a future Palestinian state, the future of Jerusalem, and fate of Palestinian refugees.
But Olmert later vowed there could be no deal unless the Palestinians halted attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-controlled smaller half of the Palestinians' promised future state.
"If we are talking about a Palestinian state that includes both the West Bank and Gaza, we cannot take Gaza out of the context of the fight against terror," Olmert said.
Israel has insisted Abbas must crack down on militants before any implementation of an agreement, which the sides have said they wished to reach by the end of 2008.
US, Israeli, and Palestinian officials made an 11th-hour push to craft a consensus document setting out the contours for future negotiations between the two sides, expected to start after the Annapolis meeting, aimed at ending the decades-long conflict.
"Efforts have been made, but so far we have not reached an agreement," chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qorei said after talks at the State Department with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The joint document has bogged down over many details, including what the text should be called.
At the US State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack downplayed that stalled effort, telling reporters: "The fact of their presence there speaks more loudly than any particular declaration or document could," McCormack said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was Tuesday quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Russia was ready to organise a follow-up meeting to the talks at Annapolis, .
"If the parties, I mean to say Israel, Palestine and the Arab League are in favour that Moscow should become the site to follow up the work (at Annapolis), we would be happy to welcome the delegations," the minister said, speaking in Washington.
A diplomatic source said Washington has suggested that the Annapolis conference should lead to the creation of a committee which will oversee future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
"The arrangement proposed by the Americans to the Arab countries also includes the holding of a similar conference in Moscow in January which will include the role of Syria and Lebanon in the peace process," an Arab diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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