CAIRO: Arab states are heading to a US-sponsored peace meeting on Tuesday in a show of support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas against Hamas, which remains an unavoidable hurdle to success, analysts say.
Arab states including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, agreed on Friday at an Arab League meeting in Cairo to attend the Annapolis conference aimed at jump-starting stagnant Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, have shown the most enthusiasm for the success of the conference hosted by US President George W. Bush in Annapolis, Maryland on Nov. 27.
During a three-way summit in Egypt on Thursday, President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan s King Abdullah II and Abbas said they were optimistic over the chances of success of the meeting.
Abbas urged the foreign ministers meeting in Cairo to seize the historic opportunity that the conference provides, despite his admission that talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had failed to reach a joint document for the Annapolis conference.
Diplomatic efforts to reactivate the peace process which collapsed at Camp David seven years ago, picked up after Hamas s shock election victory during the 2006 legislative elections.
The win sparked fear among neighboring countries, particularly Egypt and Jordan where Islamist movements form the countries strongest opposition groups.
International fears of an expanding Islamist force in the region finally caught up with Cairo, Amman and other Arab countries, said Emad Gad, an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian file at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
This created a consensus over the need to achieve something which would support Mahmoud Abbas and counter Hamas, he told AFP.
According to Gad, Saudi Arabia agreed to join the Annapolis talks – though reluctantly – because it can t afford the political price of refusing a demand by the United States, of which Saudi Arabia is a key regional ally.
The oil-rich kingdom has never recognized Israel and no senior figure has held public talks with Israeli officials except for meetings at the United Nations and a 1996 international summit on fighting terrorism.
We are not going for handshakes or a display of emotions … We are there only to reach a peace which safeguards Arab interests and safeguards the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese lands, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal said.
According to Gad, Arab states are banking on the success of the talks to lead to a tangible improvement of conditions in the West Bank, something which could force Hamas to ease its grip on the Gaza strip.
But Ezzedine Choukri-Fishere, an analyst with the International Crisis Group think-tank, said that isolating Hamas creates a major obstacle to the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
A peace process directed against Hamas or based on battling the group is not viable, he told AFP.
There must be an inter-Palestinian dialogue and a national reconciliation, but these elements are completely absent which sparks concerns over the Palestinian Authority s capacity to control security, he said.
After a meeting with Mubarak on Tuesday, Olmert said he hoped to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians by 2008.
But as the talks approach, major differences still exist between the Israelis and Palestinians.
The Palestinians and Arab allies want a timeline on efforts to resolve the thorniest issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future state and the fate of refugees, and they want a deal before the end of Bush s presidential term in 2009.
They also want a follow-up mechanism to monitor commitments undertaken by both sides.
Israel instead wants a less detailed document, with a list of principles on which to base negotiations.
Damascus has yet to confirm its attendance pending an answer from Washington over an Arab request to include the occupied Golan Heights on the agenda of the Annapolis meeting.
