A deception of illusionary peace ideas

Never mind the hype, the Arabs are going into the Annapolis peace conference with no illusions. Had the United States and Israel been serious about making peace in the Middle East, they would have done so a long time ago. That is the bottom line.

However, Arab states show their commitment again to achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in this troubled region.

They are going into the conference with a viable peace plan, endorsed by all 22 Arab states in at least two summits. It offers the Israelis full normalisation of relations in return for its complete withdrawal from Arab land occupied in 1967. But what does Israel have to show? And for that matter, what does George W. Bush have to offer in addition to the "historic" photo opportunity?

Israel would in fact be the sole winner at this festival. Israeli leaders will have a blast at home having been pictured alongside Arab leaders who have so far refused to meet them. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is counting on those pictures to gain a few points in the polls as his approval rating has hit rock bottom since his Lebanon war fiasco.

Otherwise, Olmert has nothing really to offer the embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is under pressure from Hamas in Gaza and whose people live in abject misery due to Israeli sanctions. Both men are going into the conference hall today without an agreement on any of the points they discussed over the past few weeks. A ceremonial declaration is all that Abbas can, in fact, hope for at the end of this over-hyped meeting.

As for other Arabs, they hope that Bush has finally realised that the Palestinian question is central to the troubles of the Middle East. But it unfortunately is too late, isn't it?