Don't expect much:
"Rice pushes for plan on Mideast peace; Urges Israelis, Palestinians to compromise" by Michael Abramowitz/Washington Post October 16, 2007
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Israelis and Palestinians yesterday to compromise on a plan to jump-start peace negotiations, describing the ending of their long conflict as one of the top goals of President Bush in the 15 months he has left in office.
Rice, officially confirming for the first time the badly kept secret that the conference is to be held in Maryland:
"Frankly, we have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op. I hope you understand that the president has decided to make this one of the highest priorities of his administration and of his time in office. It means that he is absolutely serious about moving this issue forward and moving it as rapidly as possible to conclusion."
[Why did he wait so fucking long then?
This is bullshit, because the event is nothing but a photo op for Israel's promotion]
Rice arrived here this week facing deep skepticism among Arabs and Israelis about such lofty statements, especially given what many here regard as the administration's past disengagement from the issue - a position Rice flatly rejected yesterday. With great interest by both sides in her visit here, Rice and senior American officials are trying to tamp down expectations about what can be accomplished in the near term, nervous that a conspicuous failure to pull off the peace conference could spark new violence in the Palestinian territories or have other unforeseen consequences.
[So expect an invasion of Gaza and further USraeli aggression after this sham production has been concluded.
Early 2008, it looks like now!]
The meeting in Ramallah took place in the ramshackle compound where Yasser Arafat, the longtime Palestinian leader, spent his final days and is now buried. Rice was greeted warmly by Abbas, who made clear he expects her to pressure Israel on various issues - such as halting settlements in the occupied territories and ending an archeological dig in Jerusalem that Muslims have complained is too near a holy site."
[Yeah, the digging is near the al-Aksa Mosque, so if a bomb ever goes off there, EVERYONE WILL KNOW ISRAEL DID IT!!!!
And how come the paper didn't contextualize the issues for you?
Digging near Islam's third-holiest site (where Muhammad ascended to heaven) would seem pretty PROVOCATIVE, wouldn't it?]
