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Peace Process

MidEast parley running out of road?


By Stan Goodenough
September 18, 2007

The concerted US-driven diplomatic effort to pave the way for the birth of Palestine this November appeared to be faltering Tuesday, following a slew of reports suggesting the recent impetus towards a "meaningful" international conference is now running out of steam.

According to The Jerusalem Post, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - the administration official heading up the effort to get Arabs and Israelis together in Washington to discuss dividing up the Jews' land - has lowered her expectations and, thereby, the expectations of all who were optimistic about the latest push for "peace." at Israel's expense.

Citing Israeli and US officials, the Post noted that, "despite American interest a few weeks back ... Rice will not be meeting together with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during her upcoming visit."

Instead Rice, who was last here in July, will meet Wednesday in Jerusalem with Olmert after holding separate meetings with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

On Thursday, before leaving the country, she plans to meet with the PLO/PA leaders in Ramallah.

One Israeli official tried to gloss over the development, saying Olmert and Abbas were meeting often enough right now and so did not need Rice to mediate between them.

But in diplomatic language, Rice's decision was understood to message one or both of the parties that she was less than pleased with their efforts to prepare for the conference.

The secretary has also likely been cooled off by recent regional developments that have impacted on the conference.

Last week, Saudi Arabia announced that it was less likely to attend the summit in the light of the alleged Israeli Air Force's incursion into Syrian airspace earlier this month.

While Saudi is not officially a party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is a major proponent of the "Road Map" peace plan, and the US heartily welcomed Jeddah's announcement three months ago that it intended to attend the conference.

Earlier positive responses to Damascus' declared interest in attending the event have also shriveled on the vine.

A US official said Monday Washington does not want Syria at the summit because its "brutal regime" effuses "barbaric antisemitism" and cuddles too closely with Iran.

For his part, terror-chief Mahmoud Abbas has been trying to push Israel to announce what concessions the Jewish state will be willing to make at the conference.

While rumors abound that Olmert and Israeli President Shimon Peres have already "sold the farm" - the official Israeli position is that Jerusalem will not show its cards before the big pow-wow.

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