Annapolis peace conference

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Livni and Qurei to aim for joint statement in ad hoc meeting
herb keinon, tovah lazaroff, and JPost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 25, 2007Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will meet on Sunday evening with the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Ahmed Qurei [Abu Ala] in Washington to attempt to achieve a joint statement of principles prior to the opening of the peace conference, Israel Radio reported.
The two will be accompanied by US Secretary of Sate Condoleezza Rice.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Livni landed at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, DC Sunday afternoon. Olmert and Livni set out Saturday overnight, buoyed by news that a wide array of Arab nations planned to attend the US-sponsored peace gathering set for this Tuesday, including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and other members of the Arab League.
Boarding the flight, Olmert told journalists he hoped the meeting would "allow the launch of serious negotiations on all the core issues, which will lead to a solution of two national homes for two peoples."
En route to Washington, Livni told reporters the conference would make clear who the moderates and who the extremists are in the Arab world.
Livni reiterated the Israeli position that the conference would mark the start of the bilateral negotiation process between Israel and the Palestinians, adding that the countries who have decided to attend will be there to give their support.
Livni said that over 40 states would participate in a workshop entitled "comprehensive peace" at Tuesday's plenary session and will be free to bring up any issue they wish.
It is widely expected that the Saudis will raise the issue of Jerusalem, while Livni added that it was possible that Syria would raise the issue of the Golan Heights.
Speaking with reporters last week, Rice said: "The meeting is about the Palestinian-Israeli track. But if people want to address other tracks or talk about them, they're certainly not going to be ruled out of order."
Livni said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was instrumental in bringing the Saudis to the conference by convincing them that Israel "means business."
Meanwhile, the release of 431 Palestinian security prisoners authorized by the government has been delayed until early next week, Israel Radio reported on Saturday night.
The decision to release the prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Abbas was approved by the cabinet last Monday. It was apparently postponed until after Annapolis at the request of the defense establishment, which opposed the release before the summit.
AP contributed to this report.

I'm trying to be optimistic but hard to see any good coming from this.
Thoughts ?

[s.rwitt]

Seen it before, will see it again.

[RusskiSoldat]

I skipped most of the post, all I need to know is that it's a peace conference in which Israel is involved, so I can't really picture anything getting done.