Uphill climb for Rice on Mideast peace

Avoiding an isolation of Hamas – since some fear isolation could encourage the organization to try to torpedo the peace conference – is also part of another letter sent to Rice by a group of former ambassadors, diplomats, and Pentagon officials. In a policy paper, the group recommends finding ways to draw Hamas into accepting the principles of a peace accord rather than simply ignoring it – since ignoring it risks making the organization even more popular.

"The Hamas issue can't be swept under the rug, but at the same time, we can't let them be the derailing imperative here," says Robert Pelletreau, a former assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs who participated in the diplomats' policy paper.

Like the other former officials, this group of diplomats presses in its paper for the Bush administration to make a strong push with the Israelis and Palestinians for a substantive and energetic "statement of understandings" to guide the conference. Specifically, the group says the White House must do what it can to make sure the document contains what the Saudis need it to say to attend the conference.

Saudis looking for specifics

The Saudis, who in 2002 proposed what is now called the Arab peace initiative for a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East, have said the conference only makes sense if it is to address the specifics of an accord – a position that runs counter to the Israeli position.

The two letters reflect a widespread unease in Washington that Mr. Bush's call for a peace conference is not being supported by the attention and diplomatic arm-twisting that is necessary not only to successfully relaunch the peace process, but also to avoid actually setting back prospects by falsely raising hopes.

Ambassador Pelletreau says Bush's announcement of the conference joined other positive steps in the region – including the naming of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as special envoy to the Palestinians for the Quartet of powers engaged in the peace process.

"And yet, we were not seeing much preparation going on in the administration after the president's announcement," says Pelletreau. Among other things, that led the Israel Policy Forum, a New-York-based organization that supports concluding a two-state settlement, to gather the group of diplomats that includes Pelletreau to write their paper.

Still, Pelletreau says the intent is to assist in laying the groundwork for a successful peace process. "We're not trying to be critical of the administration. We are trying to support the call for an international conference by suggesting ways it can be successful," he says.

Yet despite Rice's repeated stops in the region, some experts are still wondering why more effort isn't being put into guaranteeing the success of an initiative Bush announced with great fanfare. Ever since Rice shifted her attentions at the beginning of the year to the peace process, some analysts thought the timing had more to do with her desires to mold a positive legacy than with conditions on the ground that were what diplomats call "ripe" for a new effort.

Indeed, the conditions Rice will encounter next week seem hardly better. Both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are particularly weak. Mr. Olmert is under a corruption cloud and buffeted by new polls that show barely half of Israelis support peace talks at this time. Mr. Abbas rules over only part of the Palestinian population, with Hamas governing a third of Palestinians.

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