Middle East:The United States was making frantic efforts to close gaps between Israelis and Palestinians last night on the eve of an ambitious and high-risk gamble to "relaunch" final peace negotiations after seven years of bloodshed and stalemate.
US president George Bush held separate meetings with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, at the White House in an 11th-hour bid to agree a joint declaration of principles before today's Annapolis summit - which is shaping up to be the biggest Israeli-Arab conference since Madrid in 1991.
Heavy pressure from hard-liners at home fuelled profound scepticism about the prospects of a breakthrough once the negotiations begin. The Islamist movement Hamas warned Mr Abbas he would be a "traitor" if he made concessions to Israel. And Israel's opposition Likud leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, said Palestinians were "not lifting a finger to halt terror". Thousands protested in Jerusalem and Gaza against the talks.
Opinions on the progress made towards reaching a declaration were mixed yesterday: Israeli sources said there were still "significant" gaps after weeks of discussions; Yasser Abed Rabbo, a close Abbas aide, said agreement was close; the US state department said the parties were "converging" on a document with the help of Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state. Today's Maryland meeting has been billed as kick-starting "final status" negotiations on creating a Palestinian state.
Mr Bush will say in his opening speech that Middle East peace will be a high priority until he leaves office in January 2009. Critics say he has neglected it fatefully since 2001 and has been utterly discredited in the region by the war in Iraq and bias towards Israel. Stephen Hadley, his national security adviser, signalled that the president was unlikely to put forward new ideas - a disappointment for anyone hoping for a more active US role. "It is now time for the parties to get into this process by way of negotiation," Mr Hadley told reporters. "And I don't think the president will conclude that the time is right to start offering ideas on outcomes on specific issues."
In the Middle East, Annapolis has already been written off by many, with Iran leading the opposition. "This conference has already failed," the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said yesterday. "The US and its accomplices hope to preserve their reputation by this conference and compensate for past failures of the fake Zionist regime."
Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed prime minister of Hamas, in control of the Gaza Strip, warned that any agreement reached by Mr Abbas would be invalid. "The land of Palestine . . . is purely owned by the Palestinians," said another Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar.
"No person, group, government or generation has the right to give up one inch of it. Anyone who stands in the face of resistance or co-operates with the occupation against it is a traitor." Despite these problems - and considerable private doubts - both sides were trying to sound upbeat. "We are going to have lots of participants in what I hope will launch a serious process of negotiations between us and the Palestinians," Mr Olmert said.
Mr Abbas said: "We have great hopes of this conference." Participation by Saudi Arabia and Syria is giving it a strong Arab presence, including the first involvement in peace talks with Israel by the entire 22- member Arab League. Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, told Time magazine he was impressed by the "the determination of the US to see this through".
Speeches by Mr Bush, Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas will begin the conference, before the talking gets under way in a closed session.