RAMALLAH, West Bank - U.S.-led Middle East peace efforts will not be seen as credible by Palestinians unless a deadline is set for a deal, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Saturday.
Israel has rejected a timeline, the United States has been cool to the idea and Fayyad said he is not issuing an ultimatum. He warned, however, that the situation on the ground is not static and that with continued expansion of Israeli settlements, prospects for a two-state solution are getting dimmer every day.
Palestinians are worse off today than when peace-making began more than a decade ago, and they need "some notion of when this is going to end, particularly since conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate," said Fayyad, 55, an economist and former World Bank official who meets frequently with Israeli leaders and has won the respect of the Bush administration.
In the runup to the U.S.-hosted Mideast conference, tentatively set for late November or early December in Annapolis, Md., Israel must make some "bold moves," Fayyad said in an interview at his West Bank office.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she doesn't expect the Israelis and the Palestinians to reach agreement on any framework for peace during her visit Saturday and today in the region.
Fayyad said Israel shouldn't just remove West Bank roadblocks and dismantle illegal settlement outposts, as required under phase one of the dormant "road map" plan, but should also free about 2,000 of more than 12,000 Palestinian prisoners, preferably before the Annapolis conference.
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