WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush spoke to Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders on Wednesday to lay the groundwork for next week's Middle East peace conference on the creation of a Palestinian state.
The United States has invited about 40 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Syria which have no relations with the Jewish state, to the meeting which it hopes will launch negotiations to end the six-decade Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Neither country has yet said whether it will attend and Middle East peace envoy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Riyadh to meet Saudi King Abdullah as part of the U.S. drive to coax Arabs to come the meeting.
Saudi Arabia's participation could help Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas compromise while also helping Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sell any deal to Israelis by holding out the prospect of a wider peace with the Arab world.
It was unclear how far the conference will go in tackling the core issues -- borders, security, settlements, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees -- that have defeated previous efforts to end the conflict.
Bush spoke to Olmert, Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as he began his most intense effort to resolve the conflict, which faces many obstacles.
The Palestinians are themselves divided between Abbas' Fatah movement, which governs the West Bank, and the Hamas Islamist faction, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June and which the United States regards as a terrorist group.
Israel sought to bolster Abbas by approving a shipment of ammunition and 25 armoured trucks for his security forces in the West Bank and Israeli officials said another 25 vehicles could be sent later if his forces crack down on militants.
Israel, which controls Gaza's borders, also said flower and strawberry exports could resume from the impoverished territory to Europe. The shipments were suspended after Israel declared the Gaza Strip an enemy entity in September.
LAUNCH PAD FOR NEGOTIATIONS
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the one-day meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland would be a success if it simply launches peace negotiations.
