“It is time for the establishment of a Palestinian state” was the message projected by US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, following her meeting with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas yesterday in Ramallah.

In what was her seventh trip to the region in a year, the top US diplomat defended the credibility of the peace summit which is due to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, in November. Rice’s vehement support for the international peace meeting comes as speculation has mounted among Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, who have seen the lack of invitations and the indecisiveness over naming a specific date, despite its imminence, reason for skepticism over its seriousness.

Ms. Rice’s rebuttal to such criticism centers on the importance of November in producing a document from which a basis of negotiations can be initiated. The Secretary of State admitted that November would not solve everything and would by no means result in a final agreement but declared that it would be “serious and substantive”, including on the agenda the core issues of the conflict.

This is a topic greatly advocated by the Palestinian president who claimed after the meeting with Secretary Rice that they were “working hard to formulate a joint document with the Israeli side that defines the fundamental status for a solution of final status issues”.

However, whereas Abbas emphasizes the importance of a timetable in order to measure Palestinian and Israeli achievements post November, Rice has sided with Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, in stressing that it is “not certain that a timetable that says we have to complete X by Y time is where we want to go”.

The construction of the document highlighting the key subjects for discussion, upon which both negotiating sides must agree on before attending the summit, is another contentious issue. President Abbas has guaranteed that the document will be ready in time for the summit and the US is reportedly not sending out invitations until this document has been finalized. Tensions are growing on this aspect as the summit is supposedly taking place in just over a month, Olmert has only this week appointed Tzipi Livni, his Foreign Minister, as head of his negotiating committee and the two groups have only met once. In addition, PA Information Minister, Riyad al-Malki has confirmed that they will not attend without the document.

Secretary Rice will travel to Egypt today to meet with President Mubarak and aim to allay the fears of Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul Gheit, who has reservations over the value of the summit suggesting a possible delay if it means avoiding a rushed agreement between Palestinians and Israelis. Ms. Rice will hope that her words in Ramallah will convince them of her commitment. She proclaimed in Ramallah that she will be focused on the cause “until I’ve given my last ounce of energy and my last moment in office”, reaffirming that President Bush shares her dedication toward an agreement between Palestine and Israel concluding that they [the US] “have better things to do than invite people for a photo op”.

Meanwhile Hamas, the authoritative body in Gaza, is continuing in their opposition to the meeting in Annapolis. Deposed Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, warned Abbas not to be lured into the trap of compromising on core issues with Israel stating that he shouldn’t go to the conference without the power card, which Haniyeh views as being Hamas. Furthermore, Hamas politburo chief, Khaled Meshaal, has accused the Fatah President of chasing a “mirage”. Meshaal is instead attempting to push for an alternative meeting to be held in Damascus.

Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Ahmadinejad have also urged the Arab community to boycott the summit.