Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Friday he would attend a conference to relaunch talks on ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a move that the United States and Israel hope will bolster the chances of its success.
Saudi participation in the November 27 U.S.-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland could improve Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's ability to reach an agreement and help Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sell it to Israelis by holding out the prospect of wider peace with the Arab world.
Syria, Israel's long time foe, said on Friday the United States has agreed to put the occupied Golan Heights on the conference agenda, but Damascus will decide whether to attend when it receives the schedule.
"The United States has sent confirmation that it will include the Syrian-Israeli track," the Syrian news agency quoted Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem as saying. "Syria will decide whether to attend or not in light of the schedule it receives."
Syria has said it would only attend the conference if the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967, are on the agenda.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said: "The Arab peace follow-up group has decided to accept the invitation to attend the Annapolis Middle East peace conference at a ministerial level to discuss the peace process."
Asked if Saudi Arabia would attend the Annapolis talks on a ministerial level, Prince Saud nodded his head, but would not say if he would shake Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's hand.
"We're not ready to be part of a theatrical performance... We're going with seriousness and we hope we'll be met with the same seriousness... We're not going there to shake anyone's hand or to demonstrate feelings we don't have," he said.
Prince Saud was talking at a news conference at the end of talks of foreign ministers from the Arab League to coordinate positions ahead of the Annapolis conference.
It remains unclear how far the peace conference will go to tackle the core issues -- borders, security, settlements, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees -- that have defeated previous efforts to end the conflict.
SYRIAN ATTENDANCE
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been struggling to hammer out a joint document before the conference that would address core issues in general terms, and Egypt said it was unclear whether a document would be ready by Tuesday.
Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin welcomed the high level participation of Saudi Arabia, which does not have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, and said Israel was also in favour of Syrian participation.
But she said Annapolis would still be primarily about Israel and the Palestinians.
"It is obvious to everybody that Annapolis is about the Israeli-Palestinian track. It is also about the possibility through this track of opening up additional avenues," Eisin said.
Moualem told journalists in Cairo that Arab countries had sent a letter on Thursday to Washington requesting the inclusion of the Syrian and Lebanese tracks in the Annapolis talks.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, Syria is also on the 13-member Arab follow up committee, as are Lebanon and U.S. allies Egypt and Jordan.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, asked about prospects of Syrian and Lebanese attendance, said: "We're waiting for some, as you'd say, final connections, and this will be in the context of additional discussions to be held."
The United States has invited about 40 countries to the talks. Egypt, a major U.S. ally and one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, has offered support for next week's meeting despite initial reservations.
"We are before a historic opportunity. We want to raise our voice loudly. ... We are hoping that we will be together at the conference discussing all tracks, the Palestinian-Israeli track, the Syrian-Israeli track and the Lebanese track," Abbas told journalists in Cairo.
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