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.
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 U.S. organizers.
Washington says the hard work will begin only afterward, when both sides will tackle the issues at the core of the conflict -- Palestinian refugee rights, Jerusalem, security and the borders of a future Palestine.
"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. They will be joined at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis by representatives of more than 40 countries.
The Annapolis bid follows years of failed U.S.-brokered efforts, the last by Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton, to end decades of conflict and forge a Palestinian state.
But doubts on Annapolis' prospects run deep on both sides.
A poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion found that while 67.6 percent of Palestinians support the new round of talks, 58.6 percent do not believe Olmert seeks a peace accord -- a mix of hope and suspicion mirrored in Israeli surveys.
