Shmuel Rosner has a perceptive take on the Annapolis conference in today’s Haaretz:

From the moment the expectation [of holding the conference] was put into words, the rules of the game were established: Rice wanted to force the sides to accelerate their meetings and to advance their understandings, but ended up a victim of her strong-arm tactics. Each of the potential invitees now has the power to cause the failure of the summit — in other words, Rice’s failure. Thus, they can pressure her more than she can pressure them. This is true of Israel and the Palestinians, as well as the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Arab League, the European partners, and UN officials. Nothing in Rice’s career has prepared her for this Middle Eastern bazaar. It is hard to see how she will emerge from it with a valid achievement in hand.