Israel Radio reported Saturday that senior U.S. officials had informed Israel that the planned international Middle East conference would take place in Turkey. A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said his country had offered to host the conference, but he had no knowledge of such a decision.
Bush administration officials said Friday they see the planned conference as a momentum-builder for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal rather than a likely chance for a final settlement.
A State Department official said the aim was merely to talk about ideas and decide on what the next steps should be in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Nobody is suggesting that this would produce a final settlement. This is not Madrid or Oslo. This is about taking ideas that are generated and various roadmaps and having a ministerial meeting on how to move forward," he added.
A senior official said the administration hopes the coming weeks produce conciliatory gestures by Israelis and Palestinians to create a positive environment on which conference participants could build.
President Bush said Friday he hoped the meeting would "help solidify the visions that have been expressed not only by the United States, the Europeans, but more importantly the visions expressed by the Israelis, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia."
"I am looking forward to meeting with the prime minister, and I'm looking forward to my meeting with King Abdullah," he said. Bush was speaking to reporters at Camp David, where he was meeting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the EU's current president.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, asked on Friday if Arafat would attend the summit, said: "This will be a ministerial meeting, and the purpose of the meeting is that we find ways to listen to different people and to explore a variety of ideas." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
