Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday played down expectations for a peace deal with the Palestinians before the end of 2008 as laid out at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference last week. "We will make an effort to hold speedy negotiations in the hope we may conclude by the end of 2008, but certainly there is no commitment for a firm timetable for their completion," Olmert said at the start of Sunday's Israeli cabinet meeting.U.S. President George W. Bush assured Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, that Washington would actively engage in peacemaking, despite deep skepticism over chances for a deal before he leaves office.
Launching the first formal peace talks in seven years at the conference, Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to try and reach a deal on creating a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank by the end of next year. But skeptics say Bush's time scale for peacemaking is too ambitious given both leaders are politically weak. Speaking at the first cabinet meeting since Annapolis, Olmert urged caution.