Olmert sceptical on Mideast conference

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday a US-led conference on Palestinian statehood would not yield a peace breakthrough, a statement that appeared aimed at heading off a revolt by rightist coalition partners.

Two members of Mr Olmert's coalition have threatened to quit the government if the gathering, expected to convene in late November or early December, tackles the most sensitive issues, including control of Jerusalem and its holy sites.

"The conference is not supposed to provide solutions. It can serve as a foundation for negotiations that would lead to a two-state solution," Mr Olmert told reporters who accompanied him to France, where he meets President Nicolas Sarkozy today.

Tomorrow, he will hold talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London before returning to Jerusalem.

Mr Olmert said Iran's nuclear programme and his peace moves with the Palestinians would top the agenda of his first meetings with the two leaders since they took office.

Israeli allegations about a suspected Palestinian plot against Mr Olmert's life earlier this year cast a further shadow over preparations for the conference the US plans to host in Annapolis, Maryland.

Mr Olmert expressed "great displeasure" but said the suspected plot would not derail further talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel's public security minister, Avi Dichter, said Mr Olmert's life was not seriously threatened.

Before leaving for Paris, Mr Olmert said the Annapolis conference was "not meant to be an event on its own or an event for an agreement or a historic breakthrough".

Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas have instructed their negotiating teams to draft a joint document for the conference that addresses so-called final status issues, including borders and the fate of Jerusalem and millions of Palestinian refugees.

The paper is meant to serve as the basis for the statehood talks that Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said should be concluded by August, 2008.

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the leading far-right member of Mr Olmert's coalition, said he warned Washington the government could collapse if talks went too far.