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Dubai: US President George W. Bush's proposal for a regional peace conference yesterday received reactions ranging from welcome to scepticism, and varying visions on the outcome.
The fact that the meeting's date, agenda and participants are unknown added to the uncertainty about whether the meeting would be able to achieve any concrete results, analysts said.
"We welcome this call, particularly in light of the re-emphasised US commitment toward a meaningful peace process," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told AP.
In Italy, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema warned against isolating Hamas, saying: "Hamas has committed terrorist acts but it is also a movement of the people."
However, Nahum Barnea, Israel's leading columnist, said Bush's speech was "full of good intentions, but meaningless". Ali Jarbawi, a political science professor at Beir Zeit University, said anything short of a concrete commitment to a Palestinian state would be "moving the crisis, not solving it".
The reactions came amid announcements that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would visit Egypt this month for talks with Arab foreign ministers.
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