After weeks of talks Abbas and Olmert have agreed to continue to talk.
This, and lots of photos, is the result of the Annapolis conference:
"We agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception, as specified in previous agreements," it continued. "We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations and shall make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008."
Why one needs to agree to "immediately launch" talks when one is continuously talking was not explained:
The agreement was reached after weeks of intense negotiations and it was not clear until Bush stepped to the podium in the majestic Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., that the two sides would come together on how to move forward on the path toward peace.
When Bush stepped away from the podium that wasn’t clear either.
The Jerusalem Post catches a bit of atmosphere:
In what seemed like a maximal effort to lend pomp and drama to the occasion, the Israeli and Palestinian delegations helicoptered to the US Naval Academy, rather than simply making the hour’s drive from Washington where they had been staying. They arrived in two sets of helicopters, five minutes apart, with Abbas and his team’s choppers landing first in the crisp Maryland sunshine. Walking the few yards from helicopter to waiting motorcade, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed by the production.
Yesterday Bush also spoke of a democratic Palestinian state. That of course, would be a state where Hamas wins the elections. We are thereby assured that Bush meant Abbas will rule just as democratic as Musharraf does in Pakistan.
For a good start Abbas forbade all protest against the Annapolis conference in the West Bank and, at a rally in Hebron, his security service killed a protester. Gaza meanwhile is awaiting an all out attack by Israel. The one and a half million people there have run out of basic medical supplies and 85% of them now depend on UN food handout. The string of daily assassinations in Gaza continues. In the last 24 hours Israel killed at least four people within the "unoccupied" ghetto.
After the pep-talk Bush left the show in Annapolis. All 50 nations and organisations there will now have a full day to introduce themselves. If they really work some stringent 8 hours, each party will have 9.6 minutes to read off some declaration nobody will listen to.
Tomorrow then will come the "most important meeting" as an Olmert mouthpiece characterized it: Discussions between Olmert and Bush on when to attack Iran.
The planing and waiting for the conference had constapiated other developments in the Middle East. With the event over, the shit is now ready to hit the fan.
Lebanon is living in a political limbo and, unless some compromise is found in the next three days, may end up in another civil war. Israel will turn off electricity for Gaza starting December 2. An all out attack is likely to follow soon afterwards. Abbas returns with empty hands and will not be greated as victor when he comes back to Ramallah. Olmert will face further criminal investigations and his cabinet may fall apart for coming back from Annapolis with empty hands too.
What follows Annapolis is unlikely to be peace.