The American-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected by
the end of the month looks to be thin on content, mostly serving as
a stage to begin formal negotiations on a peace treaty between
Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, the New
York Times said in a report on Monday.
The US and Israeli officials have been so busy dampening
expectations that they are not even calling the event a conference
anymore, instead referring to it merely as a "meeting," the report
said.
The report added that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are
having trouble agreeing on even a short declaration about the shape
of a final peace, and Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
have a rough understanding on where whey are heading.
Moreover, Israeli coalition members are warning Olmert not to go
too far or get too specific, while Palestinian negotiators are
squabbling among themselves, getting little firm direction from
Abbas, the report said.
"Because we can't agree on the substance of a joint paper, we
prefer to say we're just beginning to negotiate," a senior Israeli
official close to Olmert was cited as saying.
The Middle East peace conference is tentatively to take place in
Annapolis, Maryland from Nov. 25-27.
The Middle East peace process has been stalled due to the
violence between the two sides as well as the internal conflicts of
Palestinian factions.
(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2007)
