http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/26/africa/mideast.php
Palestinian says joint statement about peace is within reach The Associated Press Monday, November 26, 2007 WASHINGTON: An elusive joint Israeli-Palestinian statement on the contours of future peace talks is within reach, a senior member of the Palestinian delegation said Monday, hours before a high-stakes international conference on the Middle East was to open. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel expressed hope that peace could finally be achieved. "I'm looking forward to continuing our serious dialogue with you and the president of the Palestinian Authority to see whether or not peace is possible," Bush said after meeting with Olmert in the Oval Office before the conference. He had a similar meeting scheduled with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, later in the day. "I'm optimistic," he said. Olmert said the international support - from Bush and also presumably from the Arab countries that agreed to come to the conference - "is very important to us" and could make all the difference. "This time, it's different because we are going to have a lot of participation in what I hope will launch a serious process negotiation between us and the Palestinians," he said, referring to the talks expected to begin in earnest after the U.S.-hosted meetings this week. "We and the Palestinians will sit together in Jerusalem and work out something that will be very good." After months of trying to forge a joint outline, Israel and the Palestinians have made an 11th-hour push in recent days to come up with a statement for presentation at the gathering Tuesday in Annapolis, Maryland. It is to be the first time that Israel, a large group of Arab states and international envoys from around the world sit down together to try to restart a peace process. Later Monday, the conference gets under way with a dinner at the State Department. "We will reach a joint paper today or tomorrow," Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Abbas. "There is a persistent American effort to have this statement." Talks on the joint statement had faltered over a Palestinian desire that it address, at least in general terms, key issues of Palestinian statehood - final borders, sovereignty over disputed Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees who lost homes in Israel following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. Israel has pressed for a broader, vaguer statement of commitment to two states living side-by-side in peace. It has promised to negotiate the contentious issues, however, in the formal negotiations that are to follow the conference. In Gaza, Hamas stepped up its verbal assault on Abbas, saying his policies had failed and undermined prospects for Palestinian statehood and unity. Hamas and other militant groups have held a series of protests against the conference, underscoring the difficulties Abbas faces as he tries to make peace with Israel. His Fatah government runs the West Bank, and the rivalry between the two groups has grown increasingly heated and personal in recent days. A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said Monday that Abbas promoted a "failed and dangerous" policy and that Palestinians had never seen a worse era than his presidency. Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the Gaza government, was one of several Hamas leaders who signed a document Monday stating that Abbas had no right to make concessions at the peace talks. "The people believe that this conference is fruitless and that any recommendations or commitments made in the conference that harm our rights will not be binding for our people," Haniya said as he arrived at Parliament in Gaza. "It will be binding only for those who sign it." The pledge rejected any compromise with Israel on the issues at the heart of the conflict, including the status of Jerusalem and the fate Palestinian refugees. Israel opposes any return of refugees, saying it would mean the end of the country as a Jewish state. And while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has signaled a readiness to give the Palestinians control over parts of Jerusalem, he wants the Old City - home to Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites - to remain in Israeli hands. The Palestinians want all of East Jerusalem, including the Old City, to be their capital.
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