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Middle East peace conference expected in November



Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper reported that an Israeli Cabinet minister close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other officials support talks on a set of principles for reaching final agreement on the thorny issues of borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees who left the infant state of Israel during the 1948 war.

Mr. Bush last month proposed an international conference in an effort to jump-start moribund talks, and as a way to bring together Israel and moderate Arab regimes.

"The most important thing is we produce results and we know what the endgame is — then we can reach agreement on the stages of implementation," Mr. Abbas said.

Israel Radio reported that the conference is expected to be held in Washington in November.

The conference plan evokes comparisons to the 1991 peace parley in Madrid, which was convened by Mr. Bush's father, and marked the first time Israel sat alongside Palestinian representatives.

The Palestinians are divided between Mr. Abbas' Fatah party, which dominates the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Miss Rice defended the U.S. boycott of Hamas even though the Islamic militants came to power in democratic elections.

Although chosen by the Palestinian people, Hamas flouted international norms by rejecting existing peace agreements and refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist, she said.

Mr. Abbas, who was also democratically elected, called Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip "criminal" and said he wouldn't speak to them unless they apologized for the violence and restore control over Palestinian Authority compounds to the Fatah-dominated security services.

Middle East peace conference expected in November (http://wpherald.com/articles/5576/2/Rice-seeks-support-for-Middle-East-peace-conference/Conference-expected-in-November.html)