This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7112457.stm

The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Final push for Middle East talks Hamas dismisses Middle East talks
(about 4 hours later)
The US secretary of state has met Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to try to bridge gaps between them before this week's Mid-East peace conference. The Islamist movement, Hamas, has said Palestinians will not be bound by any decisions taken at this week's US-backed Middle East peace conference.
Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian ex-PM Ahmed Qurei want to agree a joint document for the Annapolis meeting. Ismail Haniya, a leader of the group that is not attending the talks, said discussions would be "fruitless".
President Bush, who will host the meeting, said he remained personally committed to Middle East peace. Some 40 countries and organisations have been invited to the conference on Tuesday in Annapolis, Maryland.
Syria said it would be joining more than 40 countries expected to attend. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been meeting in Washington to set out basic terms for the negotiations.
US President George W Bush will also hold separate talks with the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, on Monday.
'Fruitless'
Ahead of Tuesday's conference, several Hamas leaders met at the Palestinian parliament in Gaza City to sign a document stating that Mr Abbas had no right to make concessions in any peace deal.
"The people believe that this conference is fruitless and that any recommendations or commitments made in the conference that harm our rights will not be binding for our people," Mr Haniya said as he entered the building.
We are very proud that we are not involved in this conference, which will bring for us nothing Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar
"It will be binding only for those who sign it."
Mr Haniya was dismissed by Mr Abbas from his position of prime minister of a national unity government in June shortly after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from the president's Fatah movement.
He was appointed to the role following his group's landslide victory in the January 2006 legislative election.
Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the US, EU and Israel, is not represented at Annapolis at all.
Another senior Hamas leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahhar, told the BBC that even if the group had been invited, it would be pointless participating because Israel was not prepared to end the occupation of Palestinian land.
OBSTACLES TO PEACE History of failed talks Jerusalem Water Refugees Borders and settlementsOBSTACLES TO PEACE History of failed talks Jerusalem Water Refugees Borders and settlements
Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad is due to lead the Syrian team at the conference, which begins on Tuesday. "We are very proud that we are not involved in this conference which will bring for us nothing," he told the BBC World Service.
Damascus has been offered talks on reviving Israel-Syria peace moves, which centre on the Golan Heights, although Golan is not on the main conference agenda. "We don't believe that this is a real peace process, because without fulfilling our basic demand it will be just as previous agreements reached and unable to be practised practically on the ground," he added.
Correspondents say Syria's decision to send a deputy minister - rather than the foreign minister like other Arab states - may be due to uncertainty over this. "Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas]is not representing the majority of the Palestinian people."
On Friday Saudi Arabia announced that it would attend, another boost to US efforts to win wide Arab support for the conference. Palestinian officials say, however, that as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Mr Abbas is entitled to negotiate on behalf of Palestinians. Agreements are signed between Israel and the PLO.
Experts pessimistic 'Honest broker'
Delegates are gathering for the conference, which starts on Tuesday. Earlier, US officials played down expectations of any breakthrough at the meeting the US naval academy in Annapolis, the first fully-fledged talks on Middle East peace since 2000.
The meeting, at a US naval academy in Annapolis, Maryland, will be the first fully-fledged talks on Middle East peace since 2000. President Bush's National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley, said the conference was not a negotiation session but was designed to launch negotiations.
Q&A: Annapolis Possibilities of AnnapolisQ&A: Annapolis Possibilities of Annapolis
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are to meet President Bush for private talks at the White House before the conference starts. "If we get something, if they can agree on some things as an input to the negotiations, that would be fine," he told reporters on Sunday.
Delegations from other states in the region will attend but none from Iran. "But I think it is really no longer on the critical path to a successful conference."
Hamas, the Islamist militant movement that controls Gaza, will not be represented either. A day after Syria confirmed it would attend, its ambassador to the UK, Sami Khiyami, said the meeting would be a chance for the Washington to restore the credibility it had lost in the Middle East.
The conference will open with remarks by President Bush followed by comments from Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert. "Annapolis constitutes a chance for them to prove that they understand the Middle East again and that they can become an honest broker," he told the BBC.
The White House has been downplaying the possibility of a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, however, indicating instead that it will be the start of negotiations. Syria agreed on Sunday to send Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad after it received assurances that the status of the Golan Heights, which have been occupied by Israel since 1967, would be on the agenda.
Israel and the Palestinians are divided over the fate of the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, and the Palestinian refugee problem which dates back to the establishment of Israel in 1948. Mr Khiyami said the issue had to be resolved as part of a comprehensive Middle East peace deal.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the verdict on the meeting has been written before the gathering has even taken place, with most experts pessimistic about real progress. On Friday, Saudi Arabia announced that it would also attend the meeting, giving another boost to US efforts to win wide Arab support for the conference.
But it might just serve to reopen serious negotiations, our correspondent says. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has meanwhile warned that the conference is ''doomed to failure''.
In a speech to members of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force, Ayatollah Khamenei said the US and its allies had called the conference to help achieve their evil aims and to extend support to Israel.