Bush Begins Mideast Peace Bid

First international peace gathering since 1991
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 27, 2007 3:10 AM CST
Bush Begins Mideast Peace Bid
Members of the Basij paramilitary group, a powerful volunteer militia directed by the Revolutionary Guards, demonstrate against Jordan and other Middle-Eastern countries' involvement in the Annapolis Middle-East peace conference, in front of Jordan's embassy in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Nov. 26, 2007. Sign...   (Associated Press)

President Bush plunged headlong into the Middle East peace process yesterday, meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as representatives of 49 countries gathered at Annapolis for talks, the New York Times reports. “The United States cannot impose our vision but we can help facilitate," Bush told Abbas.

Bush intends to avoid what he considers the disastrous hands-on approach used by former president Clinton in 2000. “We have said from the very beginning that it is the parties themselves that have to make the peace,” said an official. One Israeli representative was cynical about the gathering, calling it "the mother of all photo-ops." (More US Naval Academy stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X