WASHINGTON, 26 November 2007 — Syria said yesterday it would attend a US-led conference aimed at launching talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, giving another boost to US efforts to enlist wide Arab support for a new peace drive.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Washington two days before the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. But all sides have played down the prospect of any breakthrough at the conference or afterward.
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.”
A spokeswoman for Olmert welcomed the announcement, calling the decision to send a high-ranking member of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government a positive move.
The spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said the Israeli-Palestinian track would remain the main focus of the conference, although Syria’s participation “could open additional avenues to peace in the Middle East.” Syria had insisted the meeting also deal with the future of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, speaking to reporters on Olmert’s flight to Washington, said the issue could be raised in a forum at the conference in which “comprehensive peace in the Middle East” would be discussed.
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.
“We consider the Annapolis conference a launching pad for final status negotiations that will lead to the realization of the Palestinian people’s dream of establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said after the Palestinian leader’s arrival.
In the run-up to the conference, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have so far failed to agree on a joint document on how to proceed with negotiations.
Abu Rudeina said they would meet again in Washington and Livni told reporters on Olmert’s plane she expected the two sides to agree on a document to “launch the (peace) process, not solve (the conflict).”
Livni yesterday 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 said.
Livni said the Arab presence boosted chances for success, and 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, whose governing coalition includes right-wing partners, sell any deal.
At Annapolis, Israel and the Palestinians are expected to reaffirm commitments under the US-backed “road map” to peace, agreed in 2003. Israel has made any final deal conditional on Abbas carrying out a commitment to rein in extremists. 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.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to meet yesterday with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in a last-minute bid to forge a joint document ahead of the conference, officials said.
Rice was to hold talks with 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”, Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
