Israel stepped up efforts on Wednesday to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbbas before next week's Middle East peace conference that is expected to launch formal negotiations on a Palestinian state.
Israel approved a shipment of ammunition and 25 armoured trucks to Abbas's security forces in the West Bank, where his Fatah faction is dominant. Fatah lost control of the Gaza Strip in June to Hamas opposed to his peace moves. Israeli officials said another 25 vehicles could be sent in the future if Abbas's forces made progress in curbing militants.
Hamas's militant Izz el-Deen al Qassam Brigades branded the shipment a "Zionist gift" and accused Palestinian security services in the occupied West Bank of collaborating with Israel. Israel, which controls the Gaza Strip's borders, also announced that flower and strawberry exports could resume from the impoverished territory to Europe. The shipments bring in $25 million a year and were suspended after Israel declared the Gaza Strip an enemy entity in September.
With the November 27 conference in Annapolis, Maryland fast approaching, Israeli and Palestinian teams were still trying to draft a document that would address in general terms issues such as borders and the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.
Washington is putting heavy pressure on Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to agree on a paper and come to the conference with a joint diplomatic achievement that would smooth the way for more detailed peace discussions after the gathering. The United States announced it had invited about 40 countries, including Arab states Syria and Saudi Arabia, which have no relations with Israel, to the meeting.
An aide to Abbas said US President George W. Bush telephoned the Palestinian leader and reiterated "his commitment to support the peace process". Bush, the aide said, described the conference as "a chance to identify a clear shape of a Palestinian state".
Israel, the Palestinians and the United States have said the meeting would lead to the resumption of negotiations aimed at producing a peace accord before Bush, faced with the legacy of an unpopular war in Iraq, leaves office in January 2009.
ARAB STATES: Saudi Arabia's participation in peacemaking revived after seven years of violence could help Abbas compromise while also helping Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sell any deal to Israelis by holding out the prospect of a wider accord with the Arab world.
US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said he hoped Arab states would come but the United States did not yet have formal acceptances. Arab League foreign ministers will start meeting on Thursday in Egypt to decide a common position on the conference.
Hamas, viewed by Washington as a terrorist group, will be excluded from the meeting. The Qassam Brigades issued a statement putting Abbas on notice that "ceding any inch of Palestine is a national and moral crime".
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