As long as no one makes them touch a Jew.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations grudgingly agreed Friday to attend next week's U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference, despite failing to get any guarantee of Israeli concessions.

In a sign of the skepticism, even among close U.S. allies, the Saudi foreign minister cautioned that there would be no public handshakes with Israeli officials at the gathering Tuesday in Annapolis, Md.

And it is clear from this that those Arabs attending the summit are not interested in any sort of negotiations, making the entire event a sham.

Arab leaders made clear they were on board in part to ensure that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does not make any damaging concessions to Israel in any negotiations on a final peace deal. Israel has dangled the possibility of an accord as early as the end of 2008.

Asked if Abbas has a free rein to negotiate a deal, Arab League chief Amr Moussa underlined that Arab countries would not back an agreement deal that did not meet an Arab peace plan calling for a return of all lands Israel seized in the 1967 war.

"I repeat again and again that we are governed by the Arab initiative in all behaviors and ... and in our agreement to end the Arab-Israeli conflict," he told reporters after the foreign ministers of the league's member states decided to go to Annapolis.

In other words, no agreements unless Israel gives in to the Arabs on every point. As such, the Annapolis meeting is a fraud designed to make Israel appear to be the stumbling block to Middle East peace, rather than the victim of a the anti-Semitic faith that unites the Arab world.

It is still unclear whether Syria will attend the event, even though the US is prepared to make all sorts of concessions to the terrorist supporting rogue state.

The distance between the sides appeared small: Syria wanted the item expressly put on the agenda, and the United States was willing to allow discussion of the Golan Heights, without putting it on the agenda, officials here said.

Mr. Moallem, in reference to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said, “She promised a positive response and we are waiting to receive the agenda.”

Bush administration officials said Friday that Syrian officials were free to bring up any issues they wanted during the conference, but that the United States would not specifically put the Golan Heights on the agenda. “We will not turn off anyone’s microphone,” a senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

I doubt that is the case. I'm sure that the Israeli microphones will be silenced any time there is an attempt to bring up the ongoing Terrorstinian campaign of Jew-killing. I'm certain the Bush Administration will be afraid to allow the Israelis to bring up a point recently made by my good friend over at Joshuapundit.

The central issue of Middle East peace isn't `occupation', or a second Arab Palestinian state. It's the inability of the Arabs to live next to Jews in peace and equality. As Israel has proven, the reverse is certainly not the case.

Until the Arabs are willing to concede the legitimacy of Israel and its undeniable right to exist within secure borders, there is absolutely nothing to talk about. Indeed, the Israelis should not be attending Annapolis without a firm, explicit agreement to those points from every other participant. Frankly, I am ashamed of my President and his Secretary of State for not insisting upon those as the minimum standard for any Arab state to be allowed to attend the Annapolis summit -- or for any government official of those countries to be allowed to set foot upon American soil (and yes, I do include embassy staff and UN representatives in that statement). For six decades the Arabs have tried to make the Middle East "Judenrein", seeking to impose in the Land of Israel the same solution that Hitler sought for Germany seven decades ago.

Seven years ago, a failed president named Bill Clinton desperately sought to create a legacy by negotiating a "peace in our time" agreement on the Middle East at the expense of Israel. I fear that George W. Bush did not learn the lesson of that failure -- concessions by Israel, granted under pressure from the United States, only serve to embolden the Terrorstinians and their Arab supporters.

H/T Michelle Malkin, Tel-Chai Nation

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