Aqaba Summit

I'm encouraged by what's going on in Aqaba. Not shocked or overjoyed, but encouraged. I must say my only reasons for hope are Bush and Abbas. Bush because he's got an agenda and he's not scared to ram anybody in his way, including Sharon, shockingly. Abbas because he knows how to say "How high?" in English, when Bush says "jump".

The full text of the leaders' speeches are on the White House website. Sharon was the only one who surprised me with his words, saying "We can also reassure our Palestinian partners that we understand the importance of territorial contiguity in the West Bank for a viable Palestinian state. Israeli policy in the territories that are subject to direct negotiations with the Palestinians will reflect this fact. We accept the principle that no unilateral actions by any party can prejudge the outcome of our negotiations." This and the other recent Israeli gestures, are important steps to convincing the Palestinian people that Abbas is not selling them out.

Also from the White House, Powell and Rice discuss the progress on the Road Map.

Naturally, the papers all have articles, saying more or less the same thing - NYTimes, Washington Post, Ha'aretz, BBC (which has a nice map showing all settlements).

Opinion and analysis are all over the place too - Arab News on Bush's priorities, NYTimes on Abbas, the Christian Science Monitor on the importance of the recent developments, and Ha'aretz with a whole resource page with dozens of opinion and background articles.