After weeks of uncertainty and even questions over whether the conference would even take place, the U.S. State Department finally announced Tuesday night that it had issued invitations to host 50 countries and organizations -- including Syria -- to attend the conference. President Bush will deliver a speech but the conference will be hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The task now at hand for President Bush to usher peace in the Middle East after his presidency has been consumed by two conflicts – Iraq and Afghanistan – and the third war, the one the administration refers to as the "war on terror."
The attempt to bring to the table an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians at Annapolis is not without challenge. The last time a U.S. president tried to solve the Middle East conflict ended in failure when President Clinton, nearing the end of this administration in 2000, tried to Push through a last-minute peace agreement between then Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Next week it will be under the shadow of Clinton's failed attempts at peacemaking that George W. Bush will try his hand. Bush, who has repeatedly said of himself to be a wartime president, now has the opportunity to change his image to that of a peacemaker.
Though the road from Annapolis to the Middle East is indeed a very long one, the administration can already claim to have marked some important points in convincing to key players – Saudi Arabia and Syria – to participate.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to be represented by its foreign minister, marking the first time Israeli and Saudi Arabian officials meet at such a high level, at least officially. Saudi's participation in Annapolis gives the conference greater odds of success.
Saudi's King Abdullah has played a major role in unifying the Arab world in backing a proposal put forward initially in Beirut in 2003.
The Annapolis conference is expected to build on the Saudi Arabian proposal which offered Israel immediate recognition by all 22 members of the Arab League in return for an Israeli withdrawal to pre-June 1967 borders.
Another feather in the Bush's cap is the inclusion of Syria –a major stakeholder in any peace accord the Middle East. Indeed, there was much hesitation within the administration itself, but in the end Washington realized that it would be better to have Syria on the inside.
"Syria can do more damage from the outside," said Robert Malley, a Middle East specialist with the International Crisis Group.
One of the challenges the administration will face in Annapolis will be to make sure this conference, intended to restart the Israeli–Palestinian dialogue does not get "hijacked" by Syria, who will want its own grievances addressed: the question of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel in 1967, the issue of Lebanon, and the investigation by the United Nations into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, Robert Malley said.
There is no doubt that Annapolis represents a major venture into the unknown for President Bush. But the die has been cast, and there is no turning back.
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