The United States is planning a follow-up meeting to the peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s summit aims to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process but expectations are low with regard to the outcome of the meeting, which is bringing together representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and more than a dozen Arab states, including Syria.
Washington is proposing that Arab participants hold a follow-up meeting in Moscow in January. The meeting would discuss the Lebanese and Syrian peace tracks, as well as talks with the Palestinians.
Washington is also proposing a follow-up committee be established during the Annapolis summit to monitor future negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, according to an Arab diplomat quoted by AFP.
The committee will consist of representatives from the Quartet, the international grouping formed to push the peace process forward, which includes the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. The committee will also include representatives from an Arab contact group charged with aiming to normalize ties with Israel in exchange for Israel withdrawing from lands it captured.
Another follow-up measure will be a donor conference for the Palestinians to be held next month in France. The P.A. is expected to present a plan for improved security in the West Bank, while donor countries will discuss the funding of economic projects to boost the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Palestinian factions opposed to the Annapolis summit are still planning to go ahead with a counter meeting in Damascus. A meeting previously scheduled to take place at the beginning of November in Damascus was cancelled after P.A. officials urged Damascus to refrain from hosting it.
Following lengthy deliberations, Syria is attending the Annapolis summit after being assured that the Golan Heights, an area seized by Israel in 1967 and contested by the Syrians, would be on the summit’s agenda.
Unlike other Arab states that are sending foreign ministers, Syria is sending the deputy foreign minister, Fei’sal Miqdad, a possible concession to its ally, Iran. Lowering the level of its representation at the summit also sends a message to the U.S. that Damascus will not take orders from Washington.
Palestinian opposition factions said the “National Conference to Combat Plans to Annihilate the Palestinian Cause” would take place in Damascus, despite Syria’s participation in the Annapolis summit.
Ten factions with presence in Damascus are examining the possibility of holding the meeting soon after the Annapolis summit, based on the outcome of the international gathering.