WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The United States sent out invitations Tuesday to 40 countries for a summit on the Middle East next week in Annapolis, Md.
The gathering at the U.S. Naval Academy is to try to get the Israelis and Palestinians to commit to formal talks in the Bush administration's biggest effort yet to jump start the peace process, The Washington Post reported.
Bush first announced plans for such a meeting in July, but since then Palestinian militants have rejected any deal with Israel, and there has been no progress yet on any joint declaration. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday said he would support the peace conference while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the official Iranian news agency IRNA the meeting a mistake that will hurt the Palestinian cause.
"What the president (Bush) has wanted is what he said had wanted back in July of 2002. He's the first president to call for a two-state solution. He'd like to see these two parties come together to talk about the substantial and core issues surrounding the peace process so that we can begin negotiations towards that end," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "That's what we've been working towards as we get toward -- get closer to an Annapolis conference."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a news conference more than 100 representatives and staffers would attend the meeting, the Post said. He declined to name the countries that will participate but the Israeli press put the number at 40.
Both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters they had been invited.
