(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-26 15:50

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush meets Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Monday in a last-ditch push for Palestinian statehood before he leaves office in 14 months.

President George W. Bush (C) poses for snapshots as he returns from a Thanksgiving visit at Camp David via helicopter to the White House in Washington November 24, 2007. [Agencies]

Expectations are low for three days of talks in Washington and nearby Annapolis, Maryland, because Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas all face political challenges at home.

In a boost to all three, Syria and Saudi Arabia promised to attend the Annapolis meeting on Tuesday, although Damascus will be sending a deputy minister rather than the foreign minister hoped for by US organizers.

Washington says the hard work will begin only afterward, when both sides will tackle the issues at the core of the conflict - the right of Palestinian refugees to return, Jerusalem, security and the borders of a Palestinian state.

"This conference will signal international support for the Israelis' and Palestinians' intention to commence negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of peace between these two peoples," Bush said in welcoming the two Middle East leaders who arrived over the weekend.

Having largely shunned personal Middle East diplomacy during his seven years in office, Bush will meet Olmert and Abbas separately and together during the meetings. They will be joined at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis by representatives of more than 40 countries.

The Annapolis peace bid follows years of failed US-brokered efforts, the last by Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton, to end decades of conflict and forge a Palestinian state.

From Clinton to Bush

A senior aide to Abbas, Nabil Shaath, told Reuters that after Annapolis, they would pick up from principles already agreed on during the Clinton administration.

"This allows us not to start from the very beginning but continue from something already agreed upon," Shaath said.

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