Annapolis Conference

For events known as the Annapolis Convention, see Annapolis Convention.

The Annapolis Conference was a Middle East peace conference held on November 27, 2007, at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The conference ended with the issuing of a joint statement from all parties.

Attendees

Delegations to the Annapolis Conference, color-coded by affiliation and/or role.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice organized and hosted the conference. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and U.S. President George W. Bush attended the meeting. A partial list of over 40 invitees was released on 20 November 2007, including China, the Arab League, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations; most of whom have accepted the invitation.

Syria and Saudi Arabia were initially skeptical about participating in the conference, with Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians meeting in Sharm el-Sheik on 22 November 2007 and calling for broad Arab attendance.

Saudi Arabia initially insisted that all 'core issues' should be discussed, the most important of which are borders and Israeli settlements, the status of Jerusalem, and the Palestinian right of return, as a condition for Saudi participation. On 4 November 2007, P.M. Olmert declared that all core issues were on the Annapolis agenda. The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Saud al-Faisal, finally announced on 23 November 2007 that he would participate due to the near-Arab consensus on the summit, following an Arab League meeting in Cairo. On 26 November 2007, it was reported that despite his decision to attend, Saud al-Faisal had announced that he would neither shake the hand of Ehud Olmert, nor converse with him during the summit, since he is coming for business and not for political plays, while Ehud Olmert said that a hand shake is not necessary. Although the decision to attend by the Arab League states was supposedly a collective one, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem insisted, following the League meeting, that Syria had not yet made a decision due to uncertainty over whether the issue of the Golan Heights would be on the agenda. The rebuttal re-iterated an October 2007 declaration by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria has, however, been given informal assurances that it will be discussed. On 25 November, it was announced that Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad would attend.

Objectives and background

The goal of the conference was to produce a substantive document on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along the lines of President George W. Bush's Roadmap For Peace, with the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state. A draft document was leaked by Haaretz on 17 November 2007, with the final and forthcoming Annapolis Joint Declaration expected to outline the scope of what will eventually be final peace talks.

President Abbas and P.M. Olmert had been meeting repeatedly since June 2007 to try and agree on some basic issues ahead of the summit.

A final round of discussions between Olmert and Abbas was held in Washington D.C. on 26 November 2007, the day prior to the conference.

The conference on November 27, 2007, took place approximately 30 years after Anwar El Sadat, president of Egypt, visited Israel on November 19, 1977 to sign a peace agreement. and appoximately 60 years after the newly-created United Nations approved the UN Partition Plan (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181) on November 29, 1947, dividing the country into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city – a corpus separatum – administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status. The Jewish community accepted the plan, but the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee rejected it.

American position

Secretary Rice visited the Middle East on a four day tour of shuttle diplomacy in mid-October to shore up support for the summit, and hinted at the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities (GA), in Nashville, Tennessee on November 13, 2007, that Israelis are prepared to give up the West Bank in exchange for peace.

Palestinian position

Mahmoud Abbas addresses the Conference

Abbas stated that a clear agenda was necessary for the conference, and affirmed in early October that only a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip in their entirety would be acceptable, with any permanent Israeli control of land beyond its 1967 borders subject to discussion on a one-to-one basis. He further demanded that all six central issues be debated at the conference: Jerusalem, refugees and right of return, borders, settlements, water and security.

Abbas has said that he hoped to reach an agreement with Israel by the end of November 2007, which Abbas would then put to a referendum. Furthermore, he has expressed his hope that a final agreement with Israel would be possible within six months of the conference, although he refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a deal-breaker as far as the Olmert government is concerned.

Israeli position

In October 2007, Prime Minister Olmert indicated that he would be willing to give parts of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as part of a broader peace settlement at Annapolis, drawing considerable criticism from right-wing Israeli and foreign Jewish organizations and Zionist Christians. Knesset members from within Olmert's own ruling coalition have also been trying to stop such plans.

On November 27, 2007, Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, announced that his party would leave the government coalition, thereby ending the coalition's majority in the Knesset, if Ehud Olmert agreed to divide Jerusalem. Shas minister Eli Yishai explained: "Jerusalem is above all political considerations. I will not help enable concessions on Jerusalem." Olmert's ability to follow through on his earlier comments about concessions in East Jerusalem is therefore in question.

Opening

George W. Bush addresses the participants at the pre-conference dinner on November 26.

Prior to the conference, President Bush met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the White House. After meeting with Olmert and Abbas, President Bush read from a joint statement, signed by both parties, "We agreed to immediately launch good faith, bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including core issues, without exception," and that, "The final peace settlement will establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people just as Israel is the homeland for the Jewish people."

Protests and boycotts

Hamas and Ali Khamenei of Iran have called for a boycott of the conference, and on 23 November Hamas held a demonstration in the Gaza Strip.

The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has denounced the event, stating that "This is a political show for the media which is in Israel's interest".

On the other hand, Jewish activists and organizations opposed to Israel's concession of any part of Jerusalem, and even the West Bank, in a peace settlement have become increasingly vocal against the Olmert government, with protests planned in front of Israeli embassies in New York and Washington D.C. during the summit. On 27 November 2007, Rabbi Dov Lior of the Yesha Rabbis Council called an "emergency meeting" in order to discuss the upcoming conference. During the meeting, Lior stated: "No leader, in any generation, has the right to give away Eretz Israel… we call on the Jews abroad, and especially on community leaders and rabbis, to join us in our efforts against this treaty and its implications... Together, we will save the people of Israel from the government's terrible plan." Lior further stated that peace would only be achieved by "[cleansing] the country of Arabs and [resettling] them in the countries where they came from."

Noam Chomsky says that path to Mideast peace lies in popular organizing against U.S.-Israeli “Rejectionism”

Support for the conference

Organizations that approve of the conference are also mobilizing and preparing to demonstrate their support for the summit.

See also

• One State Solution