U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emerged from a meeting Monday expressing high hopes that Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations can be revived during this week's Mideast summit in Annapolis, Md.
"I'm looking forward to continuing our serious dialogue with you and the president of the Palestinian Authority to see whether or not peace is possible," Bush said after meeting with Olmert in the White House ahead of the U.S.-sponsored international gathering, which begins Monday night with a dinner.
"I'm optimistic."
Bush met later in the day with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before an all-day session Tuesday. The three-day conference is seen as the first significant U.S. attempt at rejuvenating the Mideast peace process since the collapse of negotiations at Camp David seven years ago.
Abbas stressed the need to address issues of Palestinian statehood.
"We have a great deal of hope that this conference will produce permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations, overall permanent status issues that would lead to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people," he said. "This is a great initiative and we need his [Bush's] continuing effort to achieve this objective."
Earlier, Olmert praised U.S. efforts to secure attendance of more than 40 nations including Canada during the conference, saying the presence of international delegates, including representatives from Arab countries, was "very important to us." Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier is expected to spread the message that Canada is assessing possible contributions to aid security, governance and development in the region, officials said.
"This time, it's different because we are going to have a lot of participation in what I hope will launch a serious process negotiation between us and the Palestinians," Olmert said. "We and the Palestinians will sit together in Jerusalem and work out something that will be very good."
Bush will open the conference with a speech. He'll make clear that Mideast peace is a top priority for the rest of his time in office through January 2009, but he is not expected to advance any of his own ideas on how to achieve that, Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Sunday.
Joint declaration expected 'today or tomorrow': Abbas aide
Monday's meetings follow unscheduled talks late Sunday between the two sides in a last-ditch effort to agree to a joint Israeli-Palestinian declaration at the conference after numerous sessions in the weeks leading up to Annapolis.
"We will reach a joint paper today or tomorrow," Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Abbas, told the Associated Press on Monday. "There is a persistent American effort to have this statement."
Palestinian and Arab League officials have insisted the talks include movement toward the resolution of the key issues, including final borders, the disputed status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees who lost homes in Israel following its 1948 creation.
Israel has favoured a broader statement of commitment to two states living side by side in peace, with discussions on final status issues to come later.
Annapolis talks to prove 'fruitless': former Hamas PM
Despite pledges of participation from all Arab League nations, including Syria and Saudi Arabia, expectations for a breakthrough on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained low ahead of the talks, which do not include representatives from the Islamist group Hamas.
Hamas, which has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, has faced international isolation since it wrested control of the Gaza Strip by force from fighters loyal to Abbas's rival Fatah movement in June.
On Monday, former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said the talks would prove "fruitless" and Palestinians would not be bound by any potential agreements at the summit.
Last week, Hamas officials said they would try to thwart the Annapolis talks by increasing the frequency and power of the almost daily rocket attacks on Israel.
Syria, technically in a state of war with Israel since 1967, agreed Sunday to attend the conference with the hopes of including discussions on Israel returning the Golan Heights.
Following this summit, Britain's former prime minister, Tony Blair, will co-chair a separate conference with so-called donor nations to help provide political and financial support for the Palestinian Authority.
With files from the Associated Press