Palestinian State

That's the question University of Maryland scholar and Brookings Institution fellow Shibley Telhami set out to answer through an analysis of Arab public opinion surveys he conducted in six countries with Zogby International. The countries were Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. How important is the issue of Palestine in your priorities? Eighty-six percent of non-Palestinians rated it the most important or within their top three priorities, compared with 73 percent in 2006.

The political commentators, top Democrats and their leading presidential contender couldn't say enough about President Bush's reference to Nazi appeasers during his speech last week to Israel's parliament. It was a perceived slap at Sen. Barack Obama's interest in talking to Iran and Syria - the evildoers the administration loves to hate - but it struck a chord on Israel's 60th anniversary because many of its citizens view Iran as their potential annihilator. What got less attention was Mr. Bush's single reference to the Palestinians in his speech, and it resonated in a way the president's speechwriters probably never intended.

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, pressing for progress in peace talks ahead of a visit next week by President Bush, said yesterday that an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of the year is an "achievable goal." Rice's upbeat remarks contrasted with more pessimistic assessments voiced by leaders on both sides, and her talks in Israel were overshadowed by a new corruption investigation against Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Talks were revived in November at a conference hosted by Bush in Annapolis with the goal of reaching an agreement by year's end. But since then, there have been no visible signs of progress.

Soon after Jimmy Carter announced that the militant group Hamas was prepared to accept Israel's "right to live as a neighbor in peace" beside a Palestinian state, Hamas' political leader begged to differ. Hamas would not recognize Israel's right to exist, Khaled Mashaal said from Damascus; it would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. That clarification was a revealing addendum to Mr. Carter's trip to the Middle East, which ended Monday. This is not something that got lost in translation.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that former President Jimmy Carter's recent talks with the Palestinian group Hamas had not been helpful, and she disputed Carter's claim that no one in the government had tried to dissuade him from his mission. "We counseled President Carter against going to the region and particularly against having contacts with Hamas," Rice told reporters in Kuwait, adding that the Bush administration had "wanted to make sure there would be no confusion and there would be no sense that Hamas was somehow a party to peace negotiations."

JERUSALEM -- Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began addressing the most difficult issues of their decades-old conflict yesterday, keeping a promise to President Bush but putting Israel's coalition government under strain. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia emerged from a two-hour session at a Jerusalem hotel with little to say about what they had discussed. Israeli officials said the two lead negotiators planned to meet at least once a week.

Jerusalem is draping itself in the flags of the city, Israel and the United States in honor of President Bush's visit this week, perfect for the essential photo op. And that's all this trip sounds like it's shaping up to be since neither the president nor his advisers have identified any policy or message that Mr. Bush will relay to advance the commitments made at the Annapolis peace summit. And that's just unacceptable. The Tel Aviv-Jerusalem-Ramallah leg of Mr. Bush's Middle East journey can't be simply a stopover before the president heads to Arab capitals to discuss economic progress, regional security and his concerns over Iran.

The leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed yesterday at a U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis to begin "vigorous, ongoing and continuous" negotiations to try to reach a comprehensive peace settlement by the end of next year. President Bush read a joint agreement by the two sides at the start of a daylong gathering at the U.S. Naval Academy that illustrated both the promise and pitfalls that lie ahead. Middle East analysts said the agreement fell short of a breakthrough, and Bush emphasized that the pact was only a beginning to further negotiations.

The progress was slight but still significant, religious leaders in Maryland said yesterday of the outcome of the peace talks in Annapolis. All major issues that have prevented peace and the creation of a Palestinian state in the past remain unresolved. Israeli and Palestinian representatives agreed only to keep talking with the goal of reaching resolution by the end of next year. But talk, in this case, between these groups, is not so cheap, local religious leaders said. "Even to come to an agreement like that is very positive," said Irma Hafeez, president of the Montgomery County Muslim Council.

WASHINGTON -- Tomorrow's Mideast peace conference, behind the walls that guard the U.S. Naval Academy campus, is surrounded by misconceptions. For starters, it's not a negotiation. No one will be locking Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas into a room, there to stay until they've solved some of the Middle East's thorniest problems. Much of the arm-twisting associated with the conference will already have occurred by the time the leaders arrive in Annapolis -- it's what President Bush and the State Department have been doing for weeks, just to get them to show up. Nor is it clear that the one-day meeting will produce anything very substantial.