Jordan times, 28.11.2007

Peace talks ‘off to a strong start’

ANNAPOLIS/AMMAN (Agencies) - With a handshake, leaders of the United States, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Tuesday to immediately launch Middle East peace talks with the goal of reaching a final accord by the end of 2008.

President George W. Bush made the dramatic announcement at the opening of a 44-nation Middle East peace conference, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas standing alongside him.

"We're off to a strong start," Bush told delegates to the daylong conference, which included 14 Arab states - among them Syria and Saudi Arabia - as well as major powers Russia, China, Britain and France.

Bush, unpopular because of the Iraq war and needing a legacy boost, arranged for a handshake between the two leaders as they stood at the podium after he announced the agreement to start talks aimed at establishment of a Palestinian state.

The accord emerged from lengthy, last-minute negotiations between the parties on a joint document meant to chart the course for negotiating the toughest "final status" issues of the conflict - Jerusalem, borders, security and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

The parties will have to overcome deep doubts as to whether an agreement is possible within Bush's last 14 months in office.

All three leaders are politically weak at home. A senior official of Hamas declared the proceedings a "waste of time". A Palestinian demonstrator at a West Bank protest was killed.

"We agreed to immediately launch good faith, bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including core issues, without exception," Bush said, reading from a joint statement.

He said the two sides agreed to try to reach an agreement by the end of 2008. Representatives from each side will hold a first session on December 12 and Abbas and Olmert will meet every other week.

‘Time is right’

"The time is right, the cause is just and with hard effort, I know they can succeed," Bush said.

The joint statement did not list the core issues, but Abbas laid them out.

"Tomorrow, we have to start comprehensive and deep negotiations on all issues of final status, including Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, water and security and others," he said.

Abbas, addressing the conference in Arabic after Bush spoke, laid down some key Palestinian demands. He said Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of "our state" - which Israel traditionally claims as part of its own eternal capital.

Olmert, reaching out to Arab delegates by using the Arabic word phrase for "welcome", said Israel was willing to make painful compromises.

"We want peace. We demand an end to terror, incitement and hatred. We are willing to make a painful compromise, rife with risks, in order to realise these aspirations," he said.

But he did not address Jewish settlement activity on the West Bank, an issue at the heart of the decades-old dispute.

Bush did call for an end to settlement expansion while urging Palestinians to rein in militants.

The joint document assigned the United States a key role - judging whether the parties are fulfilling their requirements under the 2003 US-backed "roadmap" to peace.

Finally embracing a hands-on approach, he disdained after his predecessor Bill Clinton failed to broker a deal in the twilight of his presidency, Bush was hosting the most ambitious round of international Middle East diplomacy in seven years.

Bush has faced criticism for not having done more sooner on the effort, and it was unclear how hard he will push the parties to make compromises.

He planned to leave the conference at midday to return to the White House.

Jordan ready to support both sides

In his address at the meeting, Foreign Minister Salah Bashir said Jordan was ready to support both the Israelis and the Palestinians in the coming months to translate their vision of peace into facts on the ground.

Bashir said the outcome of negotiations over final status issues has direct effects on Jordan’s security, adding that His Majesty King Abdullah has paid relentless efforts during contacts with all parties involved to achieve an independent Palestinian state that lives in peace and security alongside Israel.

Protest in Amman

Scores of jeering Jordanians took part in a rally on Tuesday against the US-hosted Middle East conference in Annapolis, denouncing it as a sell out of the Palestinian cause.

Protesters shouted "Death to Israel" and burnt Israeli and US flags at the demonstration in Amman organised by the powerful association of professional unions, a bastion of the Islamist-led opposition.

Speakers at the rally said the Annapolis conference would erode the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East and no Arab state was entitled to speak or negotiate on their behalf.

"We think that those who participated in Annapolis were not appointed by anyone and do not possess the right to compromise the pillars of the nation and its principles," said Deputy Hamzah Mansour, a leading Islamist politician.

At Tuesday's rally, one protester held a sign saying "Annapolis means the loss of Palestinian rights and liquidation of the cause" and the crowd called on Arabs to take up arms against Israel and to reject any "humiliating deal" that served only Israeli and US goals.