The serene setting of Annapolis is calculated to soothe even the most hot-headed delegate attending next week’s Middle East peace conference.

Yachts ply the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, local restaurants serve up traditional Maryland crab cakes and the last time the colonial city was involved in conflict was back in the American Civil War.

But the peaceful atmosphere cannot disguise the obstacles to the latest attempt by an American President to resolve six decades of conflict in the Middle East. Successive administrations have cajoled, flattered and threatened Arabs and Israelis to squeeze the two sides into agreement over a disputed small patch of land in the Levant.

Delegates have previously been secluded at the presidential retreat at Camp David, others awed by Madrid’s royal palaces, still more talked peace in the unlikely surroundings of an Egyptian beach resort on the Red Sea.

Nearly 50 countries and organisations have been invited to participate, including a record 17 Arab governments and assorted Muslim states from Senegal to Indonesia, who will sit down with the Israeli delegation in a gesture of reconciliation.

Saudi Arabia yesterday confirmed its attendance, giving a boost to the summit’s credibility. Syria reserved a decision until it saw the final agenda, although Damascus said yesterday the US had agreed to include the status of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The goal at Annapolis is to lay the foundation for the creation of a Palestinian state before President Bush leaves office in 14 months.

That means tackling issues such as the status of Jerusalem, claimed by both sides as their capital, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and the final boundaries of a Palestinian state. It also means coming to grips with the expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are encroaching on Palestinian territory. There are doubts whether the key participants can deliver on any of these problems.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, rules only over parts of the West Bank, while the Gaza Strip, the second-largest area of Palestinian land, is controlled by Hamas, the militant Islamic group, which has not been invited to Annapolis.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, is unpopular in his country and does not command the power necessary to make any serious territorial concessions. There are suspicions that members of his own government would like to see the process fail, thereby hastening his demise.

Most of the participants in Annapolis already regard Mr Bush as a spent force and many will take the opportunity to focus on who will succeed him.

Annapolis may hasten the creation of a Palestinian state, but it could be a nation on a speck of land, without a proper capital and unable to deliver the most basic services to its people.

Next week’s delegates will be mindful of the consequences of failure. They may find on their return from Annapolis that they have made the situation worse.

In search of a deal

Camp David, 1978 - President Carter oversees historic deal between Egypt’s President Sadat and Menachem Begin of Israel. Sadat was assassinated three years later

Madrid, 1991 - The first time Israel sat down to official talks with the Palestinians, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Largely symbolic

Oslo Agreement, 1993 - Signed on the White House lawn, where President Clinton ushered Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat into an awkward handshake.

Israeli extremists later assassinated Rabin

Camp David, 2000 - President Clinton tried to cajole Ehud Barak and Arafat into peace agreement. The Palestinian demand for a “right to return” for refugees blocked talks.

Source: Times Archive

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