Israel calls Gaza an 'enemy entity'

Senior Israeli officials said that while Saudi participation was desirable, the key was to get "open support" for the diplomatic process and a two-state solution to the conflict "from additional players."

The officials said that this "broad support" could be gained even if the Saudis did not show up, if countries such as Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Morocco attended. Their participation would also be a clear statement to Hamas that its extreme positions did not have broad Arab support, the officials said.

Despite differences that have emerged between Israel and the Palestinians in recent days regarding what type of document will be discussed at that meeting - a broad agreement of principles, which Israel wants, or a more detailed framework agreement, which the Palestinians want – (US Assistant Secretary David) Welch said that the US remained committed to holding the conference this fall.

The Bush Administration has "failed to generate serious traction" for the upcoming conference, reports The Washington Post. Reportedly, the vagueness of the planned meeting's goals and agenda is frustrating Arab states.

I think for the first time here, in quite some time, I really do feel that there is an opportunity," Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch told reporters yesterday.

But Welch declined to discuss the process, the participants and the anticipated results of the conference.

Arab nations, notably Saudi Arabia, are looking for specific timelines and language on the most controversial issues, including the final status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, eventual borders between the two states and security guarantees. "If this conference will not discuss serious topics aimed to resolve the conflict, put Arab initiative as a key objective, set an agenda that details issues as required and oblige Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories, this conference will not have any objective," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters last week.

Citing insufficient diplomacy, many are pessimistic that anything significant will come from the U.S. efforts. Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel now at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center, said Rice has "underestimated the amount of heavy lifting she'll have to do," and that "she could succeed, but it's going to take the kind of legwork that she hasn't been prepared to take until now."

Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, argues in his blog Prospect for Peace that the outlook for the meeting is poor.

The signs do not look good: the daily situation on the ground has not improved, Palestinians remain deeply divided, and tension has just rocketed up on Israel's northern border with Syria. Predictably, all sides are upping the ante in advance of the Secretary's visit.

Attempted peacemaking, if ill-conceived, can be as risky and destabilizing as war-making. A harsh, but not totally unrealistic scenario would see a failed November effort weaken America's allies, mobilize adversaries, embolden Iran and further destabilize the region with a possible spill-over effect in Iraq. Avoiding this will require a more dynamic and less dogmatic diplomacy.

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