On July 10, President Bush announced: "I will call together an international meeting this fall of representatives from nations that support a [Palestinian/Israeli] two-state solution, reject violence, recognize Israel's right to exist, and commit to all previous agreements between the parties." Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice is chair of the proceedings.
This U.S.-led international, Middle East meeting was called in response to a long scheduled July 12 presentation. The Arab League planned to formally present Israel with the Arab Peace Initiative. However, Israel moved the visit until July 25 because Olmert was too busy. Instead, on the 10th, Bush announced the more restrictive initiative with a vague plan to meet with "friendly factions" later in the year. Israel's deadly incursions continued in the West Bank and Gaza.

At first, it was rumored that Bush's call for a meeting with Israelis, Palestinians and their neighbors was going to wrap around Tony Blair's September Middle East report to the United Nations. On September 11, Secretary Rice's spokesperson said the exact date hasn't been nailed down, possibly late November and invitations haven't been issued.

While some Arab officials expressed interest, saying something was better than nothing; the main reaction has been suspicion. One headline read "The US has mobilized its surrogates in the region to prepare the ground for the emergence of a new middle east."

Israel tried to cast the Arab League envoys' visit as a turning point in relations with the Arab League but Arab diplomats pointed out Israel hasn't accepted the Initiative or agreed to serious negotiations.

Bush answered such criticism by stating: "Arab nations should also take an active part in promoting peace negotiations. Re-launching the Arab League initiative was a welcome first step. Now Arab nations should build on this initiative -- by ending the fiction that Israel does not exist, stopping the incitement of hatred in their official media, and sending cabinet-level visitors to Israel. With all these steps, today's Arab leaders can show themselves to be the equals of peacemakers like Anwar Sadat and King Hussein of Jordan."

Another paper urged the U.S. initiative, which hasn't been produced in any form, be viewed with caution. "Arabs should not be surprised that the real aim may be increasing normalization with Israel without a real breakthrough for the Palestinians."

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said; "a serious peace conference requires the attendance of all Arab states directly concerned," apparently referring to Syria. The Saudis have indicated they will not attend if Hamas doesn't. Moussa feels the upcoming conference should be based on the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant UN resolutions, including final status issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Amazingly, while the Arab League originally suggested the conference, Sec. Rice didn't issue invitations to them during meetings in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Foreign Minister, however, graciously gave limited backing to a U.S.-led peace conference. "Should we then get an invitation to attend, we will look very closely and very hard at attending," This was said at a news conference while he was standing next to Sec. Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Other than pointedly not being invited and having their own efforts dismissed out of hand the Saudis have made it clear their participation "would come only when Israel was ready to discuss the 'final status' issues it wants deferred."

According to TIME Magazine, relations between the two nations are not smooth. While sharing many goals, the Saudis believe the Bush Administration's insistence on implementing its failed policies "will imperil both Saudi and U.S. strategic interests."

On August 1, Alon Ben-Meir from the Center for Global Affairs stated; "Everyone knows that Saudi Arabia's participation is of paramount importance if only because it is a leading Sunni state. But Saudi participation is far more significant as it would signal a break with the past (the Saudis have never officially sat down with the Israelis) as well as lend greater credence to the conference.... Even more significantly, Saudi Arabia is the author of the Arab Initiative. The Arab Initiative is critical because it is exactly that: an Arab, not an American Road Map, not a Clinton plan, and not any other peace proposal from outside the Middle East. ...This is why the administration must officially embrace the Arab Initiative, ...providing [them] a leading role in the peace process.

The terms of the Arab Peace Initiative are simple. Israeli pulls back fully to the 1967 green line. Palestine becomes a viable nation with East Jerusalem as its capitol and there is a fair resolution of the refugee situation. In return, Israel will receive full recognition from the Arab states. Some analysts feel actual implementation could bring peace within a year.

Instead, within 5 days of the peace offering, the Bush Administration pushed the war button and announced plans to grant approximately $60 billion in military aid to Israel ($30 billion, a 25% increase), Egypt ($13 billion), plus an unspecified amount ($20 billion guestimate) to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

Arab leaders have pointed to Israel's tactic of supporting the peace-process while simultaneously undermining it to provoke Palestinians. "We need a precise timetable, a quick timetable and we urge Israel not to waste this historic opportunity," a League envoy explained when presenting the Initiative. Olmert said later there were "no precise timetables or stages established." While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants the meeting to grapple with core concerns of a future Palestinian state such as borders, East Jerusalem and refugees, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks of reaching "a joint declaration of intent not a binding accord."

Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, wrote in the Daily Star that it was "especially ironic that, in stark contrast to his own rhetoric, Bush's call for a Middle East peace conference is a call to wage war against the party, Hamas, that won a democratic election, and to make peace with the loser, Fatah." Ben-Ami points out, "It is a fantasy to believe that peace can be concluded without the radicals' participation. As long as Hamas and Syria are left out of the US-led peace process, they are condemned to remaining in Iran's orbit."

Ghassan Khatib a former Palestinian Authority minister of planning wrote in The Daily Star; "Bush promised Ariel Sharon in writing that he would stand by Israel in keeping the big settlements in the West Bank. The president did not ask himself a simple question: who gave him the right to make such a promise? This is a Palestinian land according to international law and according to the policies of previous US Administrations. And Saudi Arabia's willingness to participate in the conference might come with a price too high for Israel to pay: an endorsement of the Saudi peace initiative. For "moderate" American allies such as Jordan and Egypt, peace is about Israeli concessions, not about covering Israel's back."

Sources include bitterlemons.org, AFP, China Economic Net en.ce.cn, Khalid al-Dakhil,