Final push for Middle East talks

The status of Jerusalem is likely to be discussed at the talks

The US secretary of state has met Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to try to bridge gaps between them before this week's Mid-East peace conference.

Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian ex-PM Ahmed Qurei want to agree a joint document for the Annapolis meeting.

President Bush, who will host the meeting, said he remained personally committed to Middle East peace.

Syria said it would be joining more than 40 countries expected to attend.

Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad is due to lead the Syrian team at the conference, which begins on Tuesday.

Damascus has been offered talks on reviving Israel-Syria peace moves, which centre on the Golan Heights, although Golan is not on the main conference agenda.

Correspondents say Syria's decision to send a deputy minister - rather than the foreign minister like other Arab states - may be due to uncertainty over this.

On Friday Saudi Arabia announced that it would attend, another boost to US efforts to win wide Arab support for the conference.

Experts pessimistic

Delegates are gathering for the conference, which starts on Tuesday.

The meeting, at a US naval academy in Annapolis, Maryland, will be the first fully-fledged talks on Middle East peace since 2000.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are to meet President Bush for private talks at the White House before the conference starts.

Delegations from other states in the region will attend but none from Iran.

Hamas, the Islamist militant movement that controls Gaza, will not be represented either.

The conference will open with remarks by President Bush followed by comments from Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert.

The White House has been downplaying the possibility of a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, however, indicating instead that it will be the start of negotiations.

Israel and the Palestinians are divided over the fate of the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, and the Palestinian refugee problem which dates back to the establishment of Israel in 1948.

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the verdict on the meeting has been written before the gathering has even taken place, with most experts pessimistic about real progress.

But it might just serve to reopen serious negotiations, our correspondent says.