Bush, Olmert, Abbas dine as envoys negotiate

updated 7:59 p.m. ET Nov. 26, 2007

WASHINGTON - President Bush stepped cautiously into the most direct Mideast peacemaking of his administration on Monday, meeting separately with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to explore whether peace is possible. “Difficult compromises” will be required but the Israeli and Palestinian leaders are committed to making them, he said.

A day ahead of a major Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., Bush said he was optimistic. The gathering is to launch the first direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians of Bush’s nearly seven years in office, and has attracted Arab and other outside backing.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders have already said they want to conclude a bargain within the 14 months that Bush has left in office. The two sides were unable to frame a blueprint for the talks before they came to the United States, and negotiations over the text were expected to continue into Tuesday.

At an evening dinner at the State Department for members of some 50 delegations invited to the talks, Bush toasted the effort and told the guests: “We’ve come together this week because we share a common goal: two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security. Achieving this goal requires difficult compromises, and the Israelis and Palestinians have elected leaders committed to making them.”

Arab participation considered critical
Bush earlier emerged from an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and told him: “I’m looking forward to continuing our serious dialogue with you and the president of the Palestinian Authority to see whether or not peace is possible. I’m optimistic. I know that you’re optimistic.”

Next, he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who stressed the need to address issues of Palestinian statehood, sticking points that have doomed previous peace efforts.

“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. “This is a great initiative and we need his (Bush’s) continuing effort to achieve this objective.”

Olmert said that international support — from Bush and also, presumably, from the Arab nations that will attend the conference — could make this effort succeed where others have failed.

“This time, it’s different because we are going to have a lot of participation in what I hope will launch a serious process of negotiation between us and the Palestinians,” Olmert said. He was referring to the talks expected to begin in earnest after this week’s U.S.-hosted meetings.

“We and the Palestinians will sit together in Jerusalem and work out something that will be very good,” Olmert said. As to timing, he added later: “We definitely will have to sit down very soon.”

After months of trying to forge a joint outline, Israel and the Palestinians have made an 11th-hour push in recent days to come up with a statement for presentation at Tuesday's gathering in Annapolis. It will be the first time that Israel, a large group of Arab states and international envoys from around the world will sit down together to try to relaunch a peace process.

Three obstacles cited
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said after an afternoon meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and others that details of the document had not been finalized. “Our efforts are still going on to reach this document,” he said.

A member of the Palestinian delegation, speaking on condition on anonymity because talks are still going on, said three main obstacles have emerged:

• All sides have agreed that two states should be established, but the Palestinians have objected to referring to Israel as a “Jewish state.”
• American and Israeli officials are resisting Palestinian efforts to include language about “ending the occupation that started in 1967,” referring to the Israel-occupied West Bank.
• The Palestinians want the document to set a one-year timetable for reaching a resolution. The Israelis do not want this, and the Americans are open the idea.

Talks on the joint statement had faltered over a Palestinian desire that it address, at least in general terms, key issues of Palestinian statehood — final borders, sovereignty over disputed Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees who lost homes in Israel following its 1948 creation.

Israel has pressed for a broader, vaguer statement of commitment to two states living side-by-side in peace. It has promised to negotiate the contentious issues, however, in the formal negotiations that are to follow the conference.

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