Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to seek a comprehensive peace treaty within a year, launching talks immediately on core issues including borders, return of refugees and the future of Jerusalem.
US president George Bush announced the talks at a conference at the Maryland port of Annapolis attended by representatives of more than 50 countries, as well as Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"This is the beginning of the process, not the end of it – and no doubt a lot of work remains to be done. Yet the parties can approach this work with confidence. The time is right. The cause is just. And with hard effort, I know they can succeed," said Mr Bush.
In a statement agreed during last-minute negotiations, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders said they would hold the first of a series of fortnightly meetings on December 12th, with the aim of concluding a treaty by the end of 2008.
"We agreed to immediately launch good faith, bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including core issues, without exception," they said.
The statement did not identify the "core issues" but Mr Abbas said they would include Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, water and security.
Mr Olmert said Israel was ready to make painful concessions for peace: "The negotiations will address all of the issues which we have thus far avoided dealing with. I am convinced that the reality that emerged in our region in 1967 will change significantly."
Warning that the current opportunity for peace may not be repeated, Mr Abbas said the negotiations must be supported by "concrete and direct steps on the ground", including the ending of all Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, the removal of road blocks and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
"Here, I must defend in all sincerity and candour, and without wavering, the right of our people to see a new dawn, without occupation, without settlement, without separation walls, without prisons where thousands of prisoners are detained, without assassinations, without siege, without barriers around villages," said Mr Abbas.
The peace talks will run in tandem with the revival of the 2003 "road map" towards a Palestinian state, agreed under the auspices of the international quartet of the US, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. Yesterday’s statement accepts the US should monitor how Israelis and Palestinians are fulfilling their road map commitments – these include an end to illegal Israeli settlement activity and dismantling of Palestinian terrorist networks.
Although Mr Olmert held out the prospect of a deal with Syria over the Golan Heights and with Lebanon over other disputed territories, neither he nor Mr Abbas hinted at any role in the peace plan for Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Ahmed Youssef, a senior Hamas official, dismissed the Annapolis meeting as "a farewell party for George Bush" that would do nothing for the people of the Middle East.Israeli opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said he feared Mr Olmert was preparing to make dangerous concessions to the Palestinians