Prometheus 6

Nonsense. Given the conditions on the ground, if a comprehensive peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians can be had by the end of Bush's term, then peace is the natural state of affairs and only obstructionism has kept the fire burning this long.

Timetable Set for Mideast Peace Process
By HELENE COOPER

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov. 5—Israeli and Palestinian officials say they hope to reach a comprehensive peace agreement before the end of President Bush’s term, Israeli, Palestinian and American officials said Monday.

That goal fits in with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s efforts to push the two sides toward a peace plan during her tenure. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said that they would use the upcoming Middle East peace conference in Annapolis to begin substantive talks on the four contentious final status issues that have bedeviled peace negotiators since 1979.

“The American, Israeli and Palestinian sides are all insistent that we reach an end before the end of President Bush’s term in office, and that is what we wish,” Mr. Abbas told a news conference here at Yasir Arafat’s old compound. Standing beside him, Ms. Rice nodded approvingly.

Mr. Olmert strongly endorsed peace talks in a speech to a Jerusalem audience the night before. While the Palestinians have been pushing hard for the conference to tackle the final status issues, the Israelis had balked, saying they wanted their security needs met first.

While conceding nothing on the security question, Mr. Olmert delivered in Hebrew and broadcast live in Israel, said that “Annapolis will be the jumping-off point for continued serious and in-depth negotiations which will not avoid any issue or ignore any division which has clouded our relations with the Palestinian people for many years.”

But in his speech, Mr. Olmert cast the issue of a timetable far more cautiously than did Mr. Abbas. “If we and the Palestinians act with determination,” he said, “there is a chance that we can achieve real accomplishments, perhaps even before the end of President Bush’s term in office.”