US makes new push to revive Middle East peace

WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) The United States is making a new push to kick-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that could include an international peace conference in Jordan at the end of the month, said a US official and diplomats.

But they said such a meeting hinged on whether a new Palestinian government, which is still being negotiated, met conditions laid down by the quartet of West Asia mediators: to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by past agreements.

''When that (Palestinian) partner for peace is ready to work together with the rest of the international community, then many opportunities will present themselves,'' said a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza said this week the proposed government would not recognize Israel or accept a two-state solution to West Asia conflict, as demanded by Israel and the West.

But US officials have not given up hope of a breakthrough. If that happened, the United States would likely immediately drop sanctions against the Palestinian Authority that have strangled its economy since the militant group Hamas came to power after winning elections last January.

Ministers from the United States, Russia, Egypt, the Gulf states and others will be at the Dead Sea in Jordan on Novemberr 30 for an annual West Asia democracy and development meeting and the United States hopes an international peace conference could be held just before that event.

DIPLOMATIC SHUFFLE Assistant Secretary of State David Welch has been in Egypt and Jordan this week, laying the groundwork for revived peace talks if a new Palestinian government is in place.

One Arab diplomat said the November 30 conference proposal was an ''American idea'' that was far from being agreed on, but he said Arab nations were eager for the United States to become ''re-engaged'' on the issue.

''There are a lot of ideas floating out there but nothing is yet close to agreement,'' said the diplomat.

Another diplomat agreed, saying nothing was clear yet and it all depended on how negotiations went in Ramallah over the formation of a new Palestinian government.

Yesterday, Spain, Italy and France agreed to work on a joint plan to resolve West Asia conflict, calling for a total cease-fire and suggesting they could send truce monitors to the area.

Egypt has also been involved in trying to get Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert together for talks.

West Asia expert Jon Alterman said Arab governments were ''beside themselves'' about what they perceived as a lack of US action over West Asia but he was not optimistic about prospects for a peace conference.

''The question it seems to me is what are the objectives if neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis have a strategic horizon for peace,'' said Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

At the UN General Assembly in September, President George W Bush said he had told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to make a new push to revive West Asia peace process.

In October, Rice traveled to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian Territories but failed to come away with any concrete plans.

Since then, Welch and his counterpart in the National Security Council, Elliott Abrams, have been several times to the region to try and push the process along.

REUTERS SY KP2356