Middle east deal beyond reach?

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators meet this week to work toward the US goal of achieving a peace deal this year that even Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says is out of reach.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to meet separately, and then together, in Washington on Wednesday with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minster Ahmed Qurei, the two sides' lead negotiators.

The three-way talks will be the latest in a series Dr Rice has convened but, like the Israeli-Palestinian bilateral negotiations, have yet to produce tangible progress toward ending the six-decade conflict.

Beyond the intrinsic difficulty of resolving such controversial issues as the delineation of borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem, the effort is further hindered by the political divisions on both sides.

Mr Olmert is under a cloud because of a corruption investigation, while the Palestinians are split between the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the West Bank, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement holds sway.

As a result, there is deep scepticism among Israelis, Palestinians and independent analysts that there is any chance of achieving US President George W Bush's goal of "resolving all outstanding issues" before he steps down in January.

At a peace conference he held in November at Annapolis, Maryland, Mr Bush also said the two sides had agreed to "make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008."

Olmert said there could be agreement on borders and the Palestinian refugees this year but that a full deal resolving claims to Jerusalem was not a "viable possibility."

Israel, in a claim not recognised internationally, regards all of Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Even US officials have begun to say privately they are thinking about how best to nurture the peace process so as to hand it over to their successors.

Asked if they were mounting a final push to get the talks moving, one U.S. official said: "It's fairer to say that we are keen to build the sort of traction needed for things to move in the right direction, so that the next administration gets a situation that's as manageable and productive as possible."

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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