The Annapolis Summit Over by Barbora Kasparova

The promised landmark conference of the Bush administration ended on Wednesday. The attendees' list was very perspective; it was for the first time the officials of the Saudi Arabia and Israel have met. Yet, the outcome is a promise by Israel to hold regular talks with the Palestinians, starting December 12th. In eyes of some, the result is not satisfactory. What did the leaders say about the summit? Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have stated on Wednesday that the conference is a failure and added, according to the official IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency), that the sponsors of the Annapolis conference were only following "political propaganda." (http://www2.irna.com/en/news/view/line-17/0711283750143634.htm). According to Syria's ambassador in Washington Moustapha, who was also present at the conference, said: "In principle, it should ease the tensions. We always hope that the tensions would ease" (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g-DU03_7uREXjwO1-MXrVvOYv9VQD8T7G41G0). As for the foreign secretary Condoleeza Rice stated in ABC interview: "This is a good first step. But really, for Pakistan, the most stabilizing thing will be to have free and fair elections so that Pakistan can stay and return to a democratic path…" (http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2007/11/95758.htm). George Bush, in his speech on the conference stated: "Our purpose here in Annapolis is not to conclude an agreement. Rather, it is to launch negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians." (http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/2007/95695.htm). And that purpose it had fulfilled. Will the further negotiations be of any success we will see…

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians;_ylt=ApirSZw_M.vVLDmv_t9OwU6s0NUE

by Barbora Kasparova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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