RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank - Oct 18, 2007Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Wednesday he would not attend a US-sponsored Middle East meeting without real prospects for results and accused Israel of hampering peace efforts. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heard the strong message after a second round of talks with Abbas, underscoring that despite her four days of shuttle diplomacy the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians are still large.
"Time must not be lost because that's not in anyone's interest. We cannot go to the meeting at any cost. It is unacceptable to go there at any cost," Abbas told reporters before Rice headed into further talks with Israeli leaders.
"We want to reach a clear document that will help us to start negotiations under a definite timetable. We need a clear document and a deadline to reach a definitive result," Abbas added
Disagreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians over the content of the document, which negotiating teams are drawing up to serve as a basis for the looming conference, has been seen as a possible cause for delaying the summit.
The Palestinians want a detailed agreement and timeframe for implementing solutions to the thorniest issues in the conflict, while the Israelis want a more vague document with core issues left until later and no timetable.
Reacting to Abbas' comments at a news conference in Washington, US President George W. Bush expressed confidence, however, that the meeting would lay the foundation for a Palestinian state and broader regional peace.
"I'm encouraged from what Condi tells me is going on in the Middle East," he said. "The attitude is, 'let's work together to lay out that vision for the sake of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and it's possible.'"
Speaking alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Occupied Jerusalem, Rice said the conference must address the core issues, which include the fate of the holy city.
"I don't expect anyone to attend at any cost, including us. This is a meeting that is to be serious, substantive that allows the parties to address the outstanding issues between them, including the core issues," she said.
But Abbas said Israeli actions on the ground, such as recent orders to confiscate Arab land in villages outside Jerusalem, were "getting in the way of efforts to reach a substantial document to submit at the meeting."
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina accused Israel of not taking the meeting seriously enough and called on Washington to put pressure on the Jewish state to advance pre-conference talks.
Rice has dismissed suggestions that the conference - for which no date or invitations have yet been issued - be delayed. However, on Monday she mentioned December as an alternative to the more frequently touted November.
She met Livni in Jerusalem before a heading into a working dinner with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on the last full day of her tour in the Middle East.
Livni, whose appointment as official head of the negotiating team was taken as a potential sign that Israel could be hardening its position, said success would require compromises on both sides and warned against raising expectations that would lead to further violence.
"There are gaps between the sides that we must try to bridge. As I've said before and as we've learnt from previous experience, success will require compromises by both sides," she said. "Basically the idea is not to raise expectations that can lead to frustation and violence."
The latest US push to revive the peace process comes after nearly seven years of diplomatic deadlock following the collapse of the Camp David peace summit and violence between the two sides that has killed nearly 5,900 people, the vast majority of them Palestinians.
Violence continued on the ground on Wednesday, when an Israeli soldier and Palestinian militant were killed in Gaza after the military attacked the southern part of the territory controlled by Hamas.
A devout Christian whose father and grandfather were ministers, Rice prayed at the Biblical birthplace of Jesus, where the Church of the Nativity stands in Bethlehem, lit a candle and called for reconciliation.
She said it was "sometimes sobering" to hear the difficulties in Bethlehem, where tourist income slumped dramatically with the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000.
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