THE BIG HOPE FOR PACE

Hours before the Annapolis peace parley opened, US President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope Monday that peace finally could be achieved. A senior member of the Palestinian delegation said an elusive joint statement on the contours for future talks was within reach.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert shakes hands with US President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, Monday, a day before the Annapolis summit begins.
Photo: AP

Statements from the three leaders, after Olmert and Abbas had separate, individual meetings with Bush at the White House, focused on platitudes - with occasional hints of the serious divide between the parties.

"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," Bush said at Olmert's side.

Later, after a similar meeting with Abbas, Bush said, "We want to help you. We want there to be peace. We want the people in the Palestinian territories to have hope.

Olmert said international support, from Bush and also, presumably, from the Arab nations that will attend the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, "is very important to us" and could make all the difference.

"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 negotiations between us and the Palestinians," Olmert said, referring to the talks expected to begin in earnest after this week's US-hosted meetings.

When Abbas appeared with Bush, he stressed a need for talks to deal with crucial issues of Palestinian statehood, sticky discussions that have doomed previous peace efforts.

"We have a great deal of hope that this conference will produce permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations, overall permanent status issues that would lead to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people," he said.