US conference 'will not focus on peace'

Ramallah: The minute US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Ramallah City last week President Mahmoud Abbas's office turned into a hub to prepare for the international conference due to be held in Washington.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's declarations in front of the Knesset security and foreign committee on Monday saying the forthcoming conference will not be a peace conference, have instilled hopelessness "in the hearts of Palestinians" according to the Palestinian President's consultant Nabeel Amr.

"I support the rightists in that we need 20 or 30 years to have comprehensive peace with the Palestinians. Regarding this agreement, the Israeli army will withdraw from vast areas of the West Bank and the coming international conference will not be a peace conference," Olmert said.

"These declarations will make the international conference lose its potency and will instill hopelessness in the hearts of Palestinians. These Palestinians showed seriousness in negotiations with Israelis in order to end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state," Amr told Gulf News.

Moreover, the well-known political analyst Hani Al Masri told Gulf News the Palestinian leadership wants the Israelis to give them a solution since Israel is more powerful and can impose its political view on the leadership.

Condoleezza Rice said straight after her visit in the region she believed Palestinians and Israelis were trying to handle the issues that were studied in the bilateral discussions between President Abbas and Olmert.

"They are trying to record the understandings they have reached and the ones that will be reached," she added.

'I believe that it is not wise to have a timetable at this stage," she added

These declarations propelled Palestinians to search once more for the Arab stance that is ignored or strengthened according to political needs.

"Palestinians with other Arabs are seeking ways of adopting a united Arab stance that supports the Palestinian stance regarding the international conference," said Head of the Negotiations Department in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Saeb Iriqat.

He also told Gulf News: "The President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas will demand that the international conference should include a permanent peace agreement and timetables as well as mechanisms for implementing this agreement; this is totally rejected by the Israelis."

The journalist Jadoun Levi, from the Ha'artz newspaper, called for Abbas to remain at his home.

He told Gulf News: "According to the actual facts, he should not go to Washington because nothing will come out of it. No healthy brain could handle more of the friendly visits of a Palestinian leader who gives kisses to the wife of a governmental president who at the same time threatens a million and a half Palestinians with blockades, darkness and starvation," in reference to Abbas' kisses to Olmert's wife during their latest meeting.

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Hamas calls on Arab states to stay away

Hamas on Tuesday called on Saudi Arabia and other nations not to attend the upcoming US sponsored Mideast peace conference, the first time it has appealed directly to Arab states to stay away.

The Islamic militant group also warned Arab countries against offering concessions to Israel. Hamas has spoken out consistently against the conference, called by the US.

In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas said it fears the conference will be a way for Arabs to establish relations with Israel. Among Arab nations, only Egypt and Jordan maintain full diplomatic ties with Israel.

- AP