Rice defends upcoming Annapolis summit

Thursday November 22, 2007 11:04 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

In answer to allegations that the upcoming summit in Annapolis is nothing more than a photo opportunity for George Bush, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice countered that the summit will be dealing with core issues of the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has attempted to play down the Annapolis summit, scheduled for next Tuesday, as simply a planning meeting, without any potential for actual agreements to be made.

Over fifty world leaders have been invited, including the Arab nations, although Israel still refuses to consider the Arab League’s peace proposal that includes a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories.

Condoleezza Rice stated, “I’m plenty steeped in the past history of negotiations, and I’m plenty steeped in some of the things that have worked and some of the things that haven’t.  Let’s not talk about what level of preparation was there for other efforts, including efforts that didn’t succeed.”

But some of the invitees remain skeptical.  “We don’t want a conference that only repeats what’s already been said, or a conference where only pictures are taken,” said Muhammad Zolfa, a member of Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, an advisory body to King Abdullah.

The current draft of a proposed agreement does not include the right of return for Palestinian refugees or recognize the Palestinian claim to the city of Jerusalem – two of the Palestinian people’s three core demands.

Arab nations, many of whom have housed hundreds of thousands – and in some cases, millions, of Palestinian refugees for decades, have expressed their expectation that Israel will use the summit as an attempt to refuse the Palestinian refugees the internationally-recognized right to return to their homeland in Palestine.

international | peace process | news report saed at imemc dot org