US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that key Arab nations, including Syria, would be invited to US President George W. Bush's planned Middle East peace conference this fall and expressed hope they would attend.
Formal invitations have not been issued yet but Rice said on Sunday it "would be natural" for Syria, Saudi Arabia and 10 other Arab League members looking at a broad peace deal with Israel to participate despite their hostility to the Jewish state.
"It is very important that the regional players of the international community mobilize to support them," she said, referring to the Israelis and the Palestinians.
But she said their attendance would have to reflect acceptance of international efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and support for the ultimate goal of a two-state solution and comprehensive regional peace agreement.
"We would hope that the invitations would include the members of the Arab follow-up committee," Rice told a news conference after a meeting of the international diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East -- the US, UN, EU and Russia.
Aside from the Palestinians and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, the committee members are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.
Only two of the countries, Egypt and Jordan, have peace deals with Israel and some, notably Syria, remain technically at war with the Jewish state. Earlier this month, Israel is alleged to have launched an airstrike on what some reports have said was a North Korean nuclear facility in Syria.
The US has long been concerned about Syrian development of weapons of mass destruction and has harshly criticized Syria for its consistent anti-Israel stance, support for Palestinian militants and its role in Lebanon where Damascus is accused of interference.
Rice did not speak to the appropriateness of inviting Syria to the as-yet unscheduled conference that Bush announced plans for in July and is expected to be held in Washington in November.
Rice said that attendance "has to be a commitment to supporting a two-state solution" and agreement that the chance to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one that "we should not miss."
Many Arab states have said they see no use for Bush's conference unless it has clear goals and a realistic chance of meeting them. A senior US official said Rice thought she could allay those fears in her talks on Sunday.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal was noncommittal about attending the conference after seeing Rice at her hotel before the Quartet meeting.
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