Secretary of State David Welch and the accompanying delegation. The official spokesperson for the Palestinian Presidency Nabil Abu Rdeineh said the meeting reviewed the latest developments in the recent Palestinian-Israeli meetings. He added: President Abbas demanded from the American side to exert continuous efforts towards reaching the document that can meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people and that can lead to the success of the Annapolis Conference. President Abbas explained to the American side that the Palestinian side is committed to the roadmap and is moving in the path to implement all its commitments and demanded that the Israeli side implement its commitments.

In the meantime, it was revealed that the Palestinian side is pushing towards seeing the Israeli side take several measures before the Annapolis Conference as such measures will build confidence and revive the hopes on the peace process, including withdrawals from Palestinian cities and dismantling settlement outposts and removal of checkpoints, and release of 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, pointing out that there is American understanding regarding these demands that come in the context of implementing the Israeli commitments in the first phase of the roadmap.

In the meantime, US Secretary of State Rice arrived in the region at midnight last Friday evening. She will start a new round of talks with the Palestinian and Israeli officials in another attempt to encourage both sides to reach a joint document to be presented to the conference. Rice told the reporters accompanying her in the tour: I don’t expect reaching an agreement over the document under negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. They are still working on this and as usual and in such situations, they engage in complicated talks and I believe that these talks will continue for a certain date, but I will see if I can do something to assist them in achieving progress. Rice said she is convinced that the Israelis and Palestinians can reach an agreement; these are problems they can solve, but I want to remind that if the document is important and if the Annapolis Conference is important, there are other matters awaiting us. American sources said: Rice will meet with Israeli officials today, Sunday, and on Monday morning, she will head to Ramallah to meet with Qurei', Salam Fayyad and President Abbas. A senior US official joining Rice in the tour said: the document is an attempt to reach an appropriate formula without stirring internal political problems for any of the two sides.

Published at Al Ayyam NewsPaper on November 4, 2007