WASHINGTON — The United States has picked Annapolis, Md., as the expected site of a Mideast peace conference this fall that President Bush hopes will launch new negotiations toward establishing an independent Palestinian state, the Associated Press has learned.
The small city about 30 miles northeast of Washington was selected for proximity to the capital and the presence of the U.S. Naval Academy, where the November conference would be based, U.S. and other officials said Friday.
The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the conference have not been announced. The United States has been vague about the agenda, timing and guest list for the meeting, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said it will deal with the hardest issues in the 60-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Annapolis was also attractive because, unlike other sites near Washington, it has not been the site of any previous Mideast peace sessions.
U.S. officials want to avoid both high expectations and bad memories by not returning to the Camp David presidential retreat, site of both a historic U.S.-brokered peace breakthrough and a failure.
Bush announced in July that the United States would host an international gathering dedicated to jump-starting Israeli-Palestinian talks. The Bush administration wants Arab powerbrokers, notably Saudi Arabia, to attend and lend backbone to the efforts to set up an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Rice, who will host the meeting, said no invitations have been issued. Bush may attend part of the session, which is to bring together Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Abbas and Olmert have been meeting to work out proposals for the conference, set tentatively for November.
The militant Palestinian Hamas group has called on Saudi Arabia and other nations not to attend, and warned Arab countries against offering concessions to Israel. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...nnapolis_N.htm Should Lebanon attend by sending a team of negotiators to that conference?
What is the value added of attending such meetings and, on the other hand, the opportunity cost of not doing so?
Does Lebanon have a list of demands related to peace in the Middle East that he needs to highlight on the international scene?
IMO, a country directly linked to the Mideast conflict such as Lebanon should attend and the demands could list as follows (in no particular order):
1. Settlement of the Palestinian refugees present in Lebanon, outside Lebanon, and that includes both the 1948 and the 1967 refugees and their families.
2. Release of all Lebanese prisoners from Israel
3. Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa Farms
4. Israeli compensation for July 2006 war as per
UN report
5. Israeli public and solemn apology for all crimes committed in Lebanon since 1948
6. Clear and committed international support for the Lebanese Army (no BS), to equip it with the latest in defensive weaponry such as anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, basically rendering the Army as a powerful deterrent to any future Israeli aggression, if any.
7. Removing Hezbollah from the so-called terrorist list and stopping all kind of discrimination against this major Lebanese political party.
8. Providing maps for all Israeli mines and cluster bombs in Lebanon, providing support for the prompt removal of such killer material.
9. Clear commitment on the future non-breach of Lebanese air, sea and land sovereignty.
10. Clear commitment on the full rights of Lebanon in using its water resources (including the Hasbani) according to international laws.
Thoughts appreciated.