Just 24 hours after securing an agreement between Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume peace talks, President Bush invited them to the White House to ceremonially inaugurate the first formal, direct negotiations in seven years.
Bush planned to meet separately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and finally to get them together for an afternoon session and declaring the talks formally under way. "President Bush has invited them both to the White House tomorrow to inaugurate those negotiations, and the two sides have agreed that they will return to the region and meet on December 12th to continue the process," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters late Tuesday, according to the AP.
Bush acknowledged that he was worried about the consequences if peace talks failed, but said: "It is worth it to try." "I don't think it's a risk to try for peace," he said. "I think it's an obligation."
Negotiating teams will hold their first session in the region in just two weeks, on Dec. 12, and Olmert and Abbas plan to continue one-on-one discussions they started earlier this year. In addition, many of the same nations and organizations attending Tuesday's conference will gather again on Dec. 17 in Paris to raise money for the cash-strapped Palestinians.
