U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney says Hamas, with support from Iran and Syria, is trying to hinder peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.

President Bush and King Abdullah of Jordan are discussing the Middle East peace process Tuesday at the White House.

US President George W. Bush arrived in Israel late Wednesday morning, at the start of a Middle East tour aimed at dealing with both the threat posed by Iran, as well as advancing towards a Palestinian-Israeli permanent status agreement in the coming year.

A near majority of Israelis consider this week's US-hosted peace conference in Annapolis to have been a failure, according to a poll published by the Haaretz daily.

Iran's president said on Wednesday that the Middle East peace conference held in Annapolis was doomed to failure, and produced no substantial results.

Bush Says Israelis, Palestinians Agree to Launch Negotiations to Seek Peace Agreement by End of 2008.

US President George W Bush has held separate meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders before all of them attend the much anticipated Middle East peace conference in the historic American city of Annapolis.

Ahead of a US-hosted Middle East peace conference, President George W Bush has said he remains "personally committed" to implementing his vision of a two- state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

November 27 at Annapolis kicks off the latest Israeli-Palestinian Middle East peace process round that may be an historic first. It's the first time in memory the legitimate government of one side is excluded, and that alone dooms it. Like previous rounds, it's more pretense than peace, and as Jonathan Steele puts it in his November 16 Guardian column "The Palestinian path to peace does not go via Annapolis... so what do... Palestinians do next...

The United States is making a last minute effort to bridge the differences between the Israelis and the Palestinians ahead of the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis.

Gaza's militants, including the Islamic rulers, Hamas, staged mass protest against the upcoming Mideast conference in Annapolis, asserting no such meetings can deliver Palestinian rights.

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo have agreed to attend a US-sponsored peace conference next week, giving a boost to the US Government's efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.