Blair at Mid East peace talks

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US President George Bush will open the conference after holding a trilateral meeting with both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Mr Bush said he was "optimistic" and wanted to "turn dreams of peace into reality" ahead of the conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

The US president held talks with Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas separately in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday .

Mr Olmert said: "This time it's different, because we are going to have lots of participants in what I hope will launch a serious process of negotiations between us and the Palestinians.

"This will be a bilateral process, but the international support is very important for us."

Mr Abbas called the conference "a great initiative".

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to meet with President Bush after his invitation and this historic initiative that he launched to convene the Annapolis Conference," Mr Abbas said.

"We have a great deal of hope that this conference will produce a permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations, overall permanent status issues that would lead to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people, an agreement to secure security and stability."

The conference, which started with a dinner last night, is the first time that Israel, a large group of Arab states, and international envoys from around the world sit down together to try to relaunch a peace process.