Annapolis Opening Remarks

I watched the speeches online at CNN.com.  Unfortunately, it was impossible to understand/hear Abbas's translator.  According to the JPost:

In his opening speech at the Annapolis conference, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that any Mideast peace deal should ensure that Palestinians have east Jerusalem as their capital.

He also called for a halt to Jewish settlements in disputed lands.

Bush essentially said nothing outside of "glad to be here, glad you are here, historic opportunity, it's time for peace, safe home for Israelis, Palestinians, it won't be easy," etc etc. and I don't think Olmert did either. I listened pretty carefully and heard no mention of Jerusalem in his speech.  He did talk about the three Israeli soldiers, Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who are still being held hostage.

Olmert looked exceedingly happy about the photo ops involved. Big happy handshakes with Bush and Abbas while facing the cameras. Abbas didn't look nearly as excited as Olmert, though he perhaps did warm up a bit as things progressed. I will say one thing for Olmert, he is very emotionally expressive and came across as being very sincere.  But I kept wondering, who is going to be buying what he's selling?  Not the ones who really need to, such as Hamas and co. And there is that problem of Jerusalem which no amount of warmth or sincerity on his part is going to solve.

Both Olmert and Abbas gave Tony Blair hugs as they walked out afterwards.  Popular guy, Blair.

Oh yes, and of course "they" (you know who they are) are going to jump all over the fact that Bush had trouble pronouncing both Abbas and Olmert's names.

This didn't take long - Hamas rejects Abbas's speech and threatens violence - gosh, already injecting ugly into the warm, fuzzy, photo-op-handshake, peace-fest:

Watching on TV Tuesday as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appealed for peace with Israel at the beginning of a Middle East conference in the United States, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza rejected his call and said Abbas speaks only for himself.

The spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, watched the opening speeches at his office in Gaza City. He said Abbas "has no mandate to discuss, to agree, or to erase any word related to our rights." Barhoum said Abbas went to the conference "without any support from his people. He is isolated (and) represents himself only."

Barhoum expressed disappointment in the participation of Arab nations in the summit. Their presence is seen as support for renewed peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Instead, Barhoum indicated that Hamas would continue its violence against Israel. "We will use all the tools of resistance to achieve our rights," he said.

Comments

[Shirl]

Always good to come here and get the total picture, Gail. Thank you.