Abbas, Bush and Olmert to meet on Wednesday

Wednesday November 28, 2007 14:47 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies

The American president George Bush announced that the White House will host the first round of talks between the Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli premier Ehud Olmert on Wednesday.

Abbas - Olmert - File 2007

According to Bush's statement, he will hold talks separately with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders before the three convene later in the day.

The announcement comes one day after the Annapolis conference, where more that 50 countries and organizations met, under the sponsorship of the American administration, to revive the peace process in the Middle East.

In the opening joint statement, which was reached only a few minutes before the conference began, Olmert and Abbas promised to conclude a final status agreement by the end of 2008. The implementation of the agreement will, however, be conditional on the fulfillment of each side's obligations under the US brokered Road Map peace plan.

Several commentators have voiced disquiet regarding the possibility of Annapolis to acheive anything, with Palestinians demanding an end to settlement activity, the release of 12,000 political detainees from Israeli Jails, the defining of Jerusalem as a capital for the future Palestinian state, in addition to water  rights, and Israel demanding that Palestinians bring an end to all forms of resistance activity, while all the while refusing to cede complete authority over Jerusalem.

Despite the plethora of outstanding issues, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday told reporters that Abbas and Olmert will continue to meet after the talks in the US and will resume with biweekly meetings.

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