MIDDLE EAST:Expectations are low ahead of today's three-way summit between Israeli, Palestinian and US leaders, especially after Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that he and President Bush had agreed to boycott any future Palestinian government that does not recognise Israel, refuses to explicitly renounce violence and does not adhere to existing interim peace agreements.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas tried to explain to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice at a pre-summit meeting in Ramallah yesterday that a power-sharing deal he had negotiated with Hamas in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, would moderate the Islamic group.
Mr Abbas also said the deal had been essential in ending factional fighting in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and his more moderate Fatah movement, which had left close to 100 people dead.
While Dr Rice, who will mediate at the summit in Jerusalem, said the US would withhold judgment until the new Palestinian national unity government was formed, she was firm that the Fatah-Hamas deal did not meet conditions set by the quartet of Middle East negotiators - the US, EU, UN and Russia - for the lifting of sanctions.
An economic embargo was slapped on the Palestinian Authority after Hamas swept to power in elections over a year ago.
"She respected our position that we want to stop internal fighting," said Mohammed Dahlan, a senior aide to Mr Abbas. "Her position was also clear that they will not deal with this government."
Ahead of her meeting with Mr Abbas, Dr Rice said she hoped the summit "will be an opportunity to understand the current situation and commit and recommit to existing peace agreements".
While the summit was meant to revive long-moribund peace talks, the agreement Mr Olmert said he reached with Mr Bush over the weekend makes any prospects of substantive progress highly improbable. "
A Palestinian government that does not accept the quartet conditions cannot receive recognition and there will not be co-operation with it," Mr Olmert told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday. "The American and Israeli positions are totally identical on this issue."
Israeli officials, however, said Mr Abbas would not be shunned, even if Israel refused to do business with the new Hamas-Fatah government.
Interior minister Roni Bar-On, who is a confidant of Mr Olmert, said Israel "will not boycott" the Palestinian leader, adding that isolating Mr Abbas would only "thrust him towards Hamas". American officials also made it clear they would continue to engage with Mr Abbas.
The Palestinian leader said he would retain responsibility for all peace negotiations with Israel.
Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, yesterday said in Gaza that Israel and the US were trying to undermine the Mecca agreement. "The American and Israeli interference today aim to destroy the basic principles and the basis of the Palestinian cause."
No joint press conference is scheduled after the summit, a clear sign there is little expectation of progress. There are some fears, especially among Palestinian officials, that if the summit fails to produce positive results, it could increase tensions with Israel and undermine Mr Abbas.
Going into the summit, there appears to be little common ground between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. While Mr Abbas wants to talk about final status issues such as refugees, Jerusalem and borders, Mr Olmert has made it clear he is not prepared to discuss any of these and while the Israeli leader is prepared to discuss the idea of a Palestinian state within temporary borders, that is a scenario Mr Abbas has already rejected.
Dr Rice was back in Jerusalem last night where she held a two-hour meeting with Mr Olmert.