ANNAPOLIS, MD. — Grinning broadly, President Bush extended his arms around Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and pulled them together for a group photo Tuesday on the grounds of the Naval Academy.
The tableau was reminiscent of a scene four years ago in the Jordanian seaside city of Aqaba, where Bush posed for pictures with Abbas and then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon while promising to “ride herd” on the parties to reach a peace deal. That initiative quickly fell apart because of regional violence and the inability of either side to fulfill the commitments it made.
The outcome of Bush’s new effort, in the twilight of his presidency, will depend greatly on the commitment he invests in the unfolding process, according to officials and experts on the Middle East.
“At this point, he’s come to an event, and he’s made a speech,” said Dennis Ross, Middle East peace envoy for Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. “The investment will come if he starts engaging in serious diplomacy.”
White House officials reject the frequent criticism that Bush has been disengaged from the Middle East peace process while waging war in Iraq and focusing on other issues.
In an Associated Press interview Tuesday, Bush described himself as “very engaged, up to the moment” in bringing Israelis, Palestinians and the representatives of more than 40 countries to Annapolis to launch his most serious attempt at peacemaking.
“I work the phones, I listen, I encourage, I have meetings. I do a lot of things,” Bush said in the White House interview.
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said he was impressed by Bush’s performance, noting that, up until the last minute, the Israelis and Palestinians could not agree on the text of a document launching the negotiations. But the two sides came together after Bush implored them in a private meeting to make one final effort to reach agreement.
“He was really important this morning. They found a way,” Kouchner said.
As Olmert delivered a passionate plea for the Arab nations to accept his country, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al- Faisal listened intently, scribbling notes and applauding tepidly when the speech was over. A few chairs away, a deputy foreign minister of Syria stared intently ahead, not looking at Olmert as he spoke.
Some experts suggested that getting 16 senior Arab officials into the same room as the Israeli leader might have been the signal achievement of the peace conference.
The conference’s joint paper skirted the toughest issues and essentially codified existing efforts by Olmert and Abbas to negotiate the contours of a Palestinian state by the end of 2008.
Bush’s rhetoric during his opening address at the conference also was familiar, as he spoke of the battle between moderation and extremism in the Middle East, calling on the participants to support Abbas and his government as “an alternative vision for the future.”
What was different Tuesday, according to officials who were present and Middle East experts, was the audience.
“The meeting was the message,” said Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
Saudi Arabia and Syria, in particular, sent representatives to Annapolis reluctantly and with skepticism. But they came, and U.S. and Israeli officials and their allies saw that as a reason for optimism, with one Israeli noting the intense dismay of Iran over Syria’s presence.
“There are many states around the table, of which some don’t even have diplomatic relations with each other,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Annapolis. “This in itself is already a step forward.”
