WASHINGTON'The Bush administration has begun planning for an international peace conference on the Middle East early this summer to accelerate negotiations over a final political settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Thursday.
He said the gathering would take up not only political issues but include discussions over stemming violence by Arab militants and enhancing the economic prospects of the Palestinians.
At the same time, the conference would address the broader regional conflict with the aim of making progress on long-stalled peace talks between Israel and its northern neighbors, Syria and Lebanon.
Powell's announcement came after he met at the State Department with senior diplomats from the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, all of which will be involved in preparations for the conference and are expected to be its sponsors. The invitation list will include Israel, the Palestinians, Egypt, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and perhaps other Middle Eastern countries, officials said.
The new U.S. effort to advance negotiations came on the same day that the House and Senate endorsed Israel's West Bank offensive against the Palestinians, adopting the symbolic expression of support over administration warnings that this would hamstring its policy.
By proposing a new forum for simultaneous talks about political, security and economic measures, administration officials hope to bypass the current stalemate between Israelis and Palestinians.
