Bush kicks off intensive talks ahead of Mideast conference

US, President George W. Bush will kick off on Monday three days of intensive diplomacy surrounding a US-sponsored peace conference with a round of talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Bush, who said Sunday he was "personally committed" to resolving the decades-old Middle East conflict, will host separately Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who had both arrived over the weekend ahead of the Tuesday conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin told AFP that Bush is throwing his full weight behind the peace efforts in order to advance his vision of a two state solution for the two peoples.

"President Bush has always been deeply involved in the talks. His presence at the Annapolis meeting and his two-state vision offers a strong support for our and the Palestinians' ability to mark progress in the talks," she said. Abbas's advisor Nabil Shaath said that "this is an opportunity to return the spotlight to the Arab-Israeli question."

The White House talks come amid painstaking negotiations between teams on both sides in an effort to thrash out a joint statement outlining a solution to the conflict which the sides wish to present at the conference.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held on Sunday a three-way meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei, who head the negotiation teams, in a last-ditch bid to unblock the talks over the document.

Following a preparatory meeting between the two negotiation teams on Sunday evening, Qorei said that "we are working seriously in order to reach a joint statement." But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack cautioned that he would "not be surprised" if they failed to bridge their gaps before the conference starts, adding "they might work on it Tuesday."

Bush is to host Tuesday's meeting, the first major push for peace in the Middle East in seven years, and has worked to persuade some 50 countries and organizations including key Arab states to attend.

"I remain personally committed to implementing my vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," Bush said in a statement on Sunday.

"The broad attendance at this conference by regional states and other key international participants demonstrates the international resolve to seize this important opportunity to advance freedom and peace in the Middle East," the statement said.

Shaath said that Palestinians hoped to achieve a clear international commitment to start negotiations on a permanent peace deal immediately after the conference under an "acceptable time table within maximum a year."

The conference was given a strong boost when Syria announced it would attend the meeting, joining key Arab states including Saudi Arabia in a show of support for the Middle East peace talks.

White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said Bush "will make very clear that this effort has his support, and is a top priority for the remaining time in his second term," but he will not impose solutions.

The president will show "he is paying attention to the process," he told a conference call with reporters.

"You can expect he will indicate what it is that Israelis, Palestinians, the Arab states, the international community and the United States need to do and can do in order to bring this to fruition."

The president will "offer a little bit of a vision as to what we have an opportunity we can achieve at this time" and how it can contribute to "broader stability and prosperity" in the Middle East, Hadley said.

The announced aim of achieving peace by the end of Bush's term in office in January 2009 was one articulated by the Israelis and Palestinians themselves, and is not "a formal timetable," he added.

Washington, Monday, AFP