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Annapolis Countdown - November 21, 2007

So, it's official. The Annapolis international conference will be held on November 27 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Go HERE for all updates, backround, and action items


So, it's official. The Annapolis international conference will be held on November 27 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. According to an official State Department statement, "Secretary Rice will host a dinner the preceding evening here in Washington, where President Bush will deliver remarks. President Bush and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders will deliver speeches to open the formal conference in Annapolis." The Annapolis Conference, according to the statement, "will signal broad international support for the Israeli and Palestinian leaders' courageous efforts, and will be a launching point for negotiations leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace."

For the convenience of the news media, the State Department opened a dedicated informational Annapolis Conference web site.

The administration, by the way, no longer refers to the event as a "meeting" but as a "conference." Israel, insisting on bilateral negotiations, has traditionally rejected international conferences as a forum for discussing peace with its neighbors.

Some 40 invitations were sent to states, political entities, financial institutions and other international and regional stakeholders in Mideast peace. Among them are Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon Yemen and Sudan and almost all Gulf states and emirates. Arab sources on Wednesday reportedly indicated that Saudi Arabia and Syria will attend the conference. Syria's participation, according to recent reports in the Israeli media, came after Israel agreed to mention, in Annapolis, the need for settling the Israeli-Syrian territorial dispute over the Golan Heights.

It is not yet clear what will be the level of representation at Annapolis. Invitations were sent by Secretary Rice to her counterparts, foreign ministers of states in the region and worldwide. The Bush administration and Israel are pushing hard for foreign ministers to represent their countries at the conference. Some Arab states indicated, however, that they do not intend to send senior representatives if the conference is short on substance.

Before and after the Tuesday conference, on Monday and on Wednesday, President Bush will meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House. Secretary Rice will host a dinner for the delegations participating in the conference on Monday night, in which President Bush is expected to speak. Rice will also host a meeting of the Quartet, the body comprised of the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, which oversees the implementation of the Roadmap peace plan.

According to a press briefing by Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch Tuesday night the conference will start with a trilateral Bush-Olmert-Abbas meeting. Following that meeting, there will be a plenary meeting, Welch said, in which Bush, Olmert and Abbas are expected to speak. The plenary will be followed by a "working lunch," closed to the media (not clear who will participate and what they will be working on). Later, the plenary will reconvene for more speeches addressing three themes. Said Welch: "We have an agenda sketched out where we hear from some of the key leaders, and the plenary sessions will be divided roughly speaking into three parts: Demonstrating International Support for the Bilateral Process; Looking at Economic Development, Institutional Reform and Capacity Building; and finally, a session that will address Comprehensive Peace." That session is intended to draw the Syrians, the Lebanese and other Arab players to Annapolis. Asked if representatives of Syria and Lebanon would be permitted to address their grievances with Israel, Welch replied that if they show up to the conference, "we will not turn off the microphone for anyone." He added: "If they wish to speak, they get a chance to speak."

Each one of these thematic sessions is planned to last approximately 90 minutes, Welch said, "so it could be quite a long afternoon."

On the 28th, in addition to his bilateral meetings with Olmert and Abbas in the White House, President Bush may meet other senior leaders, Welch said.

Arab participation is expected to be officially decided Friday, following the Arab League's meetings Thursday and Friday in Cairo. When asked about Arab participation, Welch said he believes some will attend and knows that some "are already booking their hotel rooms."

As he prepares for Annapolis, Prime Minister Olmert made several gestures this week. All drew fire from the Israeli right, but were depicted as inadequate by the Palestinians. On Tuesday, he reportedly approved the provision of 25 armored vehicles out of 50 given to the Palestinian Authority's West Bank forces for deployment in Nablus. Olmert also received his cabinet's approval for the release of 441 out of some 10,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. All of the prisoners to be released are affiliated with Abbas' Fatah movement. None of them was convicted of killing Israelis. In addition, at Monday's cabinet meeting, Olmert reportedly reaffirmed Israel's intention to not build new settlements in the West Bank and to remove the illegal settlement "outposts" built after 2001. Palestinian, American and European diplomats pointed out that Olmert's reported comments fall short of the Roadmap's call for Israel to "freeze all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)."

Olmert also gave another spirited speech at the memorial ceremony in honor of Israel's founding father, David Ben Gurion. Olmert said: "I would think it would be a grave sin not only towards our generation, but towards the following generations, if we would not do everything possible in order to reach mutual understanding with our Arab neighbors, and if the following generations could accuse the Government of Israel of missing some opportunity for peace. I would not want to be the man whose grandchildren or great-great grandchildren accuse that there may have been a chance for Jewish-Arab peace and he missed it."

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Annapolis Countdown is a weekly publication of Americans for Peace Now, prepared by APN Spokesman Ori Nir. Americans for Peace Now is a Jewish, Zionist organization dedicated to enhancing Israel's security through peace and to supporting the Israeli Peace Now movement. For more information, please contact APN at (202) 728-1893.