Mideast summit proposed by Bush doomed to fail

An editorial in another Palestinian daily, the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi, noted that US President George W. Bush had defined the aims of an international peace conference on the Middle East that he had called for in the fall.

Such aims included the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, but only after Palestinians had proved themselves eligible for statehood, it added.

The chances of this conference succeeding were very dim, argued the independent paper, and the preconditions imposed on the Palestinians seemed impossible to meet, compared to parallel conditions on the Israelis.

"President Bush is telling the Palestinians they have to be [eligible] for their state, meaning they should agree among themselves, build institutions similar to the West, stop resistance ... give up the right of return [of refugees], and accept [Israel's] settlement activities," maintained the paper, with Arab nationalist leanings.

It added that such a summit was unlikely to be any different than other US-sponsored meetings between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships, which have, hitherto, been futile.

The paper described as "worrisome" that Bush had also urged Arab countries to sign peace treaties with Israel, saying the conference was meant to pave the way for such normalization of relations with the Jewish state.