Mideast Summit Has "A Hopeful Beginning"

Bush Assures Mideast Leaders That The U.S. Will Be Actively Engaged In The Process

(CBS/AP)  President George W. Bush, capping an intense flurry of diplomacy, said Wednesday the agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume long-stalled peace talks was "a hopeful beginning."

Bush was joined at the White House by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a brief ceremony a day after they agreed in nearby Annapolis, Maryland, to try to reach a Mideast peace settlement by the end of 2008.

"One thing I have assured both gentlemen is that the United States will be actively engaged in the process," Bush said. "We will use our power to help you as you come up with the necessary decisions to lay out a Palestinian state that will live side-by-side in peace with Israel."

As part of the U.S. pledge to assist in the peace process, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tapped a former NATO commander on Wednesday to serve as a special envoy for Middle East security.

"Yesterday was an important day, and it was a hopeful beginning," Bush said with the leaders at his side. "No matter how important yesterday was, it's not nearly as important as tomorrow and the days beyond. I appreciate the commitment of these leaders, working hard to achieve peace. I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't believe that peace was possible, and they wouldn't be here either if they didn't think peace was possible."

Unlike their three-way handshake on Tuesday, the leaders did not shake hands at the White House.

"I appreciate your courage and leadership," Bush said. "It's an honor to call you friends. And it's an honor to have watched you yesterday as you laid out your respective visions for something we all want, which is peace in the holy land."

After meeting their own low expectations for the Annapolis conference amid intense skepticism, Bush administration officials crowed with delight.

During a round of TV interviews Wednesday morning in which she praised unprecedented support for the peace process from Arab states, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith she believed Olmert and Abbas did have the conviction to settle on compromises that will be deeply unpopular among many of their constituents, but crucial to the success of any long-term peace agreement.

"I see in both of these leaders a kind of commitment to do precisely that, to take the difficult decisions," she said.

After inaugurating the negotiations at the White House, the two sides have agreed to continue with a meeting in the region on Dec. 12, Rice said Tuesday.

Rice tapped James L. Jones to serve as a special envoy for Middle East security, moving quickly to maintain momentum coming out of this week's international conference that launched new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The retired Marine general who will advise the Secretary of State on security aspects of the new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks has a reputation for outspoken independence.

Jones, whose decorated Marine Corps career spanned five decades, most recently drew attention for a blunt, sometimes critical assessment of U.S. efforts to train Iraqi police and soldiers. Retired for less than a year, he has been in high demand in Washington for his rich resume.

"I believe we need an experienced leader who can address the regional security challenges comprehensively and at the highest levels and who can provide the full support of our government to the partners as they work to meet their responsibilities," Rice said.

"Building security in the Middle East is the surest path to making peace in the Middle East," Rice said, "and General Jones is the best individual to lead our efforts in this essential endeavor."

Jones, standing at Rice's side for the announcement in the State Department's historic Treaty Room, said he looked forward to returning to the region.

"I look forward to doing whatever I can to assist," Jones said.

Rice said that Jones would report directly to her.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said earlier that the job involves monitoring the development of Palestinian security services. One focus would be how those forces interact with neighboring security services, including Israeli authorities. He said the special envoy would work closely with the U.S. security coordinator for the Palestinians, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, who has been working in the region for two years and will remain in his post.

The United States has pledged to hold both sides to account if they do not carry out obligations under the peace talks.

Bush has held Mideast peacemaking at arms' length for most of his nearly seven years in office, arguing that conditions in Israel and the Palestinian territories were not right for a more energetic role. Arab allies, among others, have warned that the Palestinian plight underlies other conflicts and feeds grievances across the Middle East, and have urged the White House to do more.

Bush seemed to answer the criticism Tuesday, giving detailed reasons why the time is now. He said Israeli and Palestinian leaders are ready to make peace, that there is a wider and unifying fight against extremism fed by the Palestinian conflict and that he world understands the urgency of acting now.

Later, in an interview with The Associated Press, Bush spoke of the importance of giving beleaguered Palestinians something positive to look forward to - and he sketched a grim alternative.

Without a hopeful vision, he said, "it is conceivable that we could lose an entire generation - or a lot of a generation - to radicals and extremists. There has to be something more positive. And that is on the horizon today."

The President's fears were reinforced by violent clashes in the West Bank where chaos threatens to undermine Abbas' standing there, just as the international community steps up its support for him in negotiating peace with Israel and his struggle with Hamas militants.

Led by the Islamic militant Hamas, Palestinian hard-liners have been demonstrating all week, rejecting concessions to Israel and declaring that Abbas does not speak for them - outlining the severe challenge Abbas faces at home.

Cautiously optimistic Syrians and other Arabs warned on Wednesday that any U.S. failure to push forward now with aggressive peace negotiations could spark a violent backlash of dashed hopes. Iran predictably blasted the conference as a failure.

In a sign of Iran's anger over the Mideast peace conference, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scolded Arab nations - implicitly including Iran's ally Syria - that they had made a mistake by attending. He said Israel was doomed to "collapse" and "will not survive."

Tuesday's gathering in Annapolis, Maryland, was widely seen as in part aimed at isolating Iran by rallying moderates in the region behind a new push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Syria's participation raised speculation that it could be prised out of its alliance with Tehran and militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah - though Damascus has insisted their ties are still strong.

Arab nations had been reluctant to attend the conference, fearing it would be all show without setting a substantive path for peace negotiations - or worse, trap them in a process where the Arabs will have to make concessions without the same from Israel.

A day after the ceremonies, few in the region were completely convinced, but many struck a more hopeful tone. Notably, Syria, an opponent of the U.S. in the region, said the conference could be a turning point - though its comments were in part aimed at defending its attendance in the face of hard-line critics.

All said the United States, which Arabs have long accused of failing to press Israel to take the steps needed for peace, had to play the role of a persistent, unbiased mediator.

Negotiating teams will hold their first session in the region in just two weeks, on Dec. 12, and Olmert and Abbas plan to continue one-on-one discussions they began earlier this year.

[dmhphils]

Posted by neoconRcrazy at 06:23 AM : Nov 29, 2007
--------------------------------------

You are full of it dude

[neoconrcrazy]

Israel has no such charter, but you come down on the side of your own worst enemy!

Posted by noseonurface

israel has a charter, the Zionist Charter - the result of this policy of jews-first, palestinians out, has been ;

illegal settlements
destruction of palestinian homes
forced expulsion
detention without trial or charges for years
assassination

must I go on?

while israel tells us in america of her "covered wagon state", surrounding by seething muslims - back home she has created an apartheid state of the worst kind.

[closethippy1]

Whatever charter Palestinians or Lebanese or anyone else has about Israel has been written after the fact.
Every word, every gesture, every breath has been done after the fact.
The Zionists had made it very clear since the late 1800''s when they published their first book that they didn''t want anything to do with Arabs, much less Palestinians all of whom should be expelled from their lands.
This attitude by the Zionists is one that Europeans always had for the darker races and which led them to colonize the world over. European Jews were no different.
The Zionists never invested even one tenth of the energy they used to get the support of the US and Europe to get the approval of Arabs to have a Jewish state.
It was never formally requested. All the Zionists did was align itself with Europe to get weapons and training and look at the result: One of the 20th century''s biggest refugee problems when they destroyed Palestine in 1948.
Over 400 Palestinian villages and towns wiped out of the face of the Earth.
And now Israel supporters whine when Arabs get upset at them because of all this needless suffering.

[dmhphils]

Most Israelis would support further withdrawals if they could believe peace would result. But withdrawal from Gaza brought rockets flying into Sderot. They do not want to see rockets flying into Tel Aviv. It is time the Palestinians, for once, made a true gesture towards peace. Instead the rockets continue to fly and the incitement continues to flow.

Sderot is not a settlement. It is a city in southern Israel.

"We have decided to make Sderot a ghost town. We are not going to stop launching our rockets until they leave."
- Abu Ubeideh, Hamas spokesman. (Associated Press, "Israeli Critically Injured After Hamas Terrorists Fire Rockets at Sderot," June 11, 2006)
There is a term for that. It''s called ethnic cleansing.

The real reason for the persistence of the conflict is the racist refusal to accept an independent non-Arab, non-Muslim presence anywhere in the Middle East. This was true in 1948. It is true today. Don''t believe the Big Lie.

[dmhphils]

In its most recent election Israel chose Ehud Olmert''s Kadima Party, whose platform was to continue Sharon''s program of disengagement from Palestinian lands, extending it from Gaza to the West Bank. The Palestinians chose Hamas, whose charter also states: "The Prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him!"

Come on Feely.....even you have to admit this is sick, that is unless you are one of them......and they, the Jihadis are just Nazis in kaffiyahs.....

[dmhphils]

Posted by neoconRcrazy at 04:41 AM : Nov 29, 2007
Israel has no such charter against the Palestinians or Muslims or any nation. How can you support this garbage?


Come on crazy.....you got all the words......how can you support this junk?? Israel has no such charter, but you come down on the side of your own worst enemy!

[dmhphils]

Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.
- Hamas Charter, Article 28

Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.
- Hezbollah Program.


Israel has no such charter against the Palestinians or Muslims or any nation. How can you support this garbage?

[dmhphils]

Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.
- Hamas Charter, Article 28

Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.
- Hezbollah Program.

[neoconrcrazy]

Palestinians have have made it impossible for Israel to withdraw any further without placing its major cities directly within missile range.

Posted by noseonurface


what a joke - fire crackers, ot missles!

How many have been killed by palestinian "missles"?

How many have been killed by israeli cluster bombs, tanks, laser guided missles, artillery ?

Give me a break - your apologist attitude and lack of respect for the facts make you a true dyed in the blue AIPAC operative.

[dmhphils]

Is there nothing for which they are not willing to sacrifice U.S. blood and treasure for?


Posted by FeelFree1 at 04:31 AM : Nov 29, 2007
----------------------------------------------------

You just really don''t get it do you? You''re sincere, but you really don''t get it at all.

Just think about an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis. Come on ....force yourself....it has been a long time since you used your imagination I know ....

Do you want gas in your car.....heating oil this winter??? Are you catching on yet?? Do you care about human rights???? I mean look at the poor Britt lady that is under arrest because she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad........that is Sharia law.....do you really want that??

[neoconrcrazy]

israel has drained hundreds of billions of American taxpayers dollars for the last 60 yrs.

With what result?

And we talk about the poor Africans not accomplishing anything with other billions?

The only thing israel has to do is to renounce her zionist fantasies of taking over all of Palestine, which is not hers. She was at first allowed a "homeland", then she got a state. She must start acting like a "state" and recognize the rights of those who were there before her.

The Palestinians will never leave Palestine, it''s their home.

[feelfree1]

If there is one topic that most Americans can agree on, it is that the endless billions upon billions of U.S. tax dollar funded welfare payments, doled out to the Israelis year after year, is an incredibly poor investment of our resources.

[dmhphils]

But the message from the Palestinians has been not "land for peace" but "land for violence." After leaving Gaza, Israel was even making plans to withdraw from most of the West Bank. Then the Palestinians started using Gaza as a platform for shelling southern Israel. Instead of encouraging Israel''s withdrawal plans and agreeing to negotiate, Hezbollah and the Palestinians have have made it impossible for Israel to withdraw any further without placing its major cities directly within missile range.

[feelfree1]

Re: "But if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the END OF civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity etc."

Is there anything that the Zionist extremists are not afraid of? Is filling their pants their only defense?

Is there nothing for which they are not willing to sacrifice U.S. blood and treasure for?

[dmhphils]

Posted by FeelFree1 at 04:24 AM : Nov 29, 2007
------------------------------------------------

The point here feely is that Israel doesn''t believe nor care about what we Christians say about Jesus returning, yet we do not let that divide us or keep us from loving Israel or the Jews.

Israelis are willing to have peace where the Jihadis are unwilling, therefore negotiations and talks are with the Reformists. If you understood half of what you claim to know, you wouldn''t bump into walls so ofter with your comments and rhetoric.

[feelfree1]

Re: "...which proves that Israel is willing to trade land for peace if it can be reasonably reassured that peace will come..."

Not Bignose, though. He''s not willing to resolve diddly until the return of Jeebus. Non-Zionist dupes need not apply with this poster.

"I said there will not be a lasting peace until Jesus returns..."- Bignose

[dmhphils]

But if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the END OF civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity etc. You libs won''''t be able to stroll through the park with your sweaters tied around your necks and chatting about same sxx partners you''''re jealous of.

[dmhphils]

But ever since the infamous 1967 Khartoum Conference, in which the Arab states flatly refused to negotiate with Israel after the Six Day War, Israel has not had a true partner for peace. The one exception was the treaty with Egypt and Israel''s withdrawal from the Sinai, which proves that Israel is willing to trade land for peace if it can be reasonably reassured that peace will come.

[dmhphils]

Most Israelis do not want to be occupiers. Awareness has been increasing in Israel that the settlement program was a mistake. Israel''s original reason for not immediately withdrawing from the territories was a concern that without a peace agreement, unilateral withdrawal would only restore the status quo ante, the same conditions that led to the war.

[dmhphils]

The "occupied territories" became occupied because Israel fought and won a defensive war instigated by Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon in June 1967. Clearly the Arab states wanted to destroy Israel before any Arab territories were "occupied."

Six years ago Israel withdrew from Lebanon. Hezbollah responded by lacing the border with close to 15,000 rockets of different types and using them on Israel''s cities.

Last year Israel withdrew from Gaza. The Palestinians responded by using their complete control of Gaza to turn it into a base for repeated rocket fire on Israel''s cities in the south.