The Bush administration has been facing fierce criticism over its failed efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now there is more skepticism and suspicion over the timing the U.S. government chose to focus on the issue.

Did the Bush administration choose to step up peace efforts in its second term to appease growing Arab anger and win support for its unpopular war in Iraq?

According to the BBC, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
is aware of these suspicions, and this week she decided to fend off criticism in Ramallah, her seventh visit to the region this year to broker agreement between Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the outlines of a peace agreement that both sides are expected to negotiate after a summit in Annapolis in the U.S. state of Maryland and tentatively scheduled for the end of November.

"We have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said, describing President George W. Bush's peace initiative as "the most serious effort to end the conflict in many, many years".

The question now is whether such words are matched by deeds?

The U.S. Secretary of State has mediated between Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who hold regular bilateral meetings to discuss what Rice calls the “political horizon” of a future Palestinian state ahead of the Annapolis summit.

But Israeli and Palestinian disagreement on the content of a joint document, which negotiating teams are drawing up to serve as a basis for the talks, has been seen as a possible cause for delay to the Annapolis talks.

The Palestinians want a detailed agreement and timeframe for implementing solutions to the thorniest issues in the conflict, while the Israelis want a more vague document with core issues left until after the conference.

Olmert and Rice also oppose a timetable for solving those most contentious issues -- the borders of a future Palestinian state, the final status of Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees, the expansion of Jewish settlements and water.

Many analysts wonder whether Olmert or Abbas have the political support to make hard decisions. So far, Rice has been trying to show that the U.S. is imposing its own plan. Perhaps that’s why she is billing the Annapolis talks as an "international" conference.

But Syria has already warned that it might not attend the summit, and Rice has made no effort to woo Damascus.

The Bush administration also continues to isolate Hamas, which seized power in the Gaza Strip in June, ousting Abbas’ Fatah party.

That’s why many American officials believe that the administration isn’t doing enough. Few think that the Annapolis conference on its own can achieve breakthrough as the conditions for peace are not at their best and time is not on the Bush administration’s side.

A letter to Bush signed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George HW Bush, and by Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, calls for an end to Hamas' isolation and recommends that the Annapolis talks be opened up to those Arab states that "currently do not enjoy diplomatic relations with Israel".

The letter also warns that "if Syria or Hamas are ostracized, prospects that they will play a spoiler role increase dramatically".

Source: Aljazeera.com