Washington: The success of the Annapolis conference will hinge on the launch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for a Palestinian state, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today.

"The success of this meeting is really in the launch of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians for the establishment of a Palestinian state and therefore a two-state solution," Rice told reporters. US President George W Bush next Tuesday will host an international conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to launch the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations following a seven-year freeze.

"I do not think that several months ago, maybe even several weeks ago, that it would have been predictable that we would be at this point," Rice said. "We ve been through an awful long period of time over the last seven years where there always seemed to be conditions for the launch of the negotiations," Rice said.

She said previous efforts snagged on a condition that the first phase of the international road map had to be completely implemented before talks could begin on the third phase, the push for the creation of a Palestinian state.

"As Prime Minister Olmert said to the Knesset last week, Israel has changed its traditional view. Now I want to be clear: the obligations of the roadmap are going to have to be fulfilled before you can implement the roadmap." The roadmap stalled soon after Bush launched it in 2003. "It was not absolutely clear that Annapolis would launch negotiations until a couple of weeks ago," she said.

However, Rice said that a joint document that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had planned agree on before the conference would not be a declaration of principles as had been expected.

Source : PTI