By Jeff Abramowitz Feb 19, 2007, 14:27 GMT
Jerusalem - Hardly anyone expected Monday's United States- Israel-Palestinian summit to produce any sort of breakthrough, and hardly anyone was surprised when the parley ended with no communique reeking of optimism, only a terse statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Although the State Department described the meeting as 'useful and productive' and Palestinians said it was 'fruitful, frank and clear', the diplomatic-speak could not disguise the fact that nothing new emerged from the two-or-so hours of talks.
The sides reaffirmed commitments already previously reaffirmed, including to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for such a state to come about through diplomatic means, rather than through violence.
President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also said they would meet again, and Rice said she would returned to the region 'soon.'
The outcome of the summit had less to do with the attitudes of the sides than with its timing.
It was called in mid-January, and one of its aims was to bolster the more moderate Abbas against the ruling Islamic Hamas movement by trying to achieve some sort of diplomatic horizon which would allow the parties to move forward in the peace process.
Since then, however, Abbas' Fatah party has committed itself to sitting with Hamas in a national unity cabinet, and this presents a problem for both Israel and the US, who are waiting to see the platform of the new government.
Specifically, they want to know whether the government, and in particular Hamas, will be prepared to accept international demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and honour prior Israeli- Palestinian agreements - something Hamas has so far consistently refused to do.
Before Monday's summit, US and Israeli officials were careful to downplay expectations. Unnamed 'American sources' were quoted by Israel Radio as describing the summit as 'a non-official meeting to exchange opinions and not for starting positions prior to negotiations.'
One Israeli official said success at the meeting would be to agree to disagree.
However, despite the deliberately-lowered expectations, the summit still had to go ahead. Given the belief that the Israel- Palestinian conflict is at the root of Middle East instability, Washington, the region's main powerbroker, cannot be seen to be turning its back on a chance to reach a solution.
'What I would consider a success,' Rice told the Israel's Ha'aretz daily prior to the summit, 'is that we have gotten started.'
'It is a complicated time,,' she said. 'But ... if I waited for an uncomplicated time in the Middle East, I am not sure I would ever get on an airplane.'
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