(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-28 10:24

ANNAPOLIS - With handshakes, leaders of the United States, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Tuesday to launch immediate talks to try to secure a peace deal by the end of 2008 that would create a Palestinian state.

President George W. Bush announced the agreement at the opening of a 44-nation Middle East peace conference, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas standing at his side.

But all three leaders are politically weak at home, raising doubts whether they can make good on their commitments.

"We're off to a strong start," Bush told delegates to the daylong conference, which included 14 Arab states -- among them Syria and Saudi Arabia -- as well as major powers Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

The US-backed peace effort is the most intense in the seven years since the collapse of negotiations and the outbreak of Middle East violence in the twilight of Bill Clinton's presidency.

The sides must overcome deep skepticism everywhere.

Bush hopes to achieve in his final 14 months in office what has eluded US leaders for decades, but the unpopular war in Iraq could limit his room to maneuver. Olmert's public standing is low, partly due to last year's Lebanon war, and Abbas lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas Islamists in June.

In need of a boost to his legacy before leaving office in January 2009, Bush arranged for an awkward handshake between the two leaders next to the podium where he announced the agreement.

All smiles, the three leaders drew rounds of applause as they spoke to representatives gathered around a U-shaped table in a majestic hall at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, 32 miles (51 km) from Washington, D.C.

The accord emerged from lengthy, last-minute talks on a joint document meant to chart the course for negotiating the toughest "final status" issues of the conflict -- Jerusalem, borders, security and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Bush said Israel and the Palestinians would try to reach an agreement on a treaty and statehood by the end of 2008. Their representatives would hold a first session in Jerusalem on December 12 and Abbas and Olmert would meet every other week.

"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," Bush said, reading from a joint statement.

"The time is right, the cause is just, and with hard effort, I know they can succeed," Bush said.

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