The Israeli right-wing and its allies in the media are working relentlessly to undermine the Annapolis peace conference. To make the conference convened by President Bush, his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made no less than eight visits to the Middle East in less than a year.

But the Israeli government’s position on the conference has always been that of a reluctant participant, sending contradictory messages, lowering expectations and discouraging optimism about the outcome.

Putting aside the audacity of the demand by some Israelis for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, the Israeli right-wing has used all conceivable arguments and excuses to spoil any chance of success for the conference.

First, the talk was about the absence of a Palestinian peace partner. When a partner appeared on the scene, it was a “weak” partner incapable of controlling his people and unable to deliver. Then came the excuse of continuing Palestinian terrorism and the implementation of the first phase of the road map, until they realized that the Palestinian Authority had almost completed implementation of its obligations, and that it was Israel who failed to deliver its side of the bargain.

For his part, President Mahmoud Abbas, the main protagonist, also assumed the role of a catalyst in order to make Rice’s efforts successful. Abbas accommodated Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is facing a barrage of attacks from the fringes of his Kadima party, from the leader of the Labor Party and from extreme right-wing parties such as Likud, Shas and the so-called Israel Beiteinu party. In his effort to make it easier for the US administration, the president bent over backward to make convening a worthwhile conference possible. He did not insist on finding a comprehensive framework solution for the core issues now, and did not insist on a six-month timeframe for reaching an agreement, thus allowing Olmert enough leeway to maneuver in the face of Shas, Lieberman, Barak, and others.

Another Israeli right-wing excuse is the “speed” at which the process of peacemaking is proceeding! They accuse the Olmert government of haste as if 15 years of negotiations and 40 years of occupation are not long enough.

But nothing is as puzzling, or perhaps as revealing, as the right-wing argument as conveyed by an editorial in the Jerusalem Post on Monday. The editorial argues that the idea of setting a deadline for wrapping up an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians has ignored something as important: A deadline for turning back the Iranian threat. The editorial concludes: “If this failure continues (a deadline for turning back the Iranian threat), the result will be a much more dangerous world, characterized by a global nuclear arms race, growing terrorism, sky-high oil prices, waning Western influence, perhaps culmination in a full-blown war.”

One would like to ask the editors of the Jerusalem Post: Is it not exactly this what the world is experiencing now? And who is behind the nuclear arms race in the Middle East? The Jerusalem Post also has to explain how much the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands since 1967 has contributed to the current dangerous situation in the Middle East, and the world at large.

But there is some good news. It seems Israeli excuses not to engage in meaningful peace negotiations leading to a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East no longer carry the same weight as before. The world community is learning, albeit belatedly, that settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a major plus for world security, and world economic stability.

It is therefore logical to assume that only intense and determined involvement by the Quartet led by the US is capable of convincing, if not pressuring Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories, and to conclude a comprehensive peace settlement.

An Annapolis failure should not be an option, as it will empower extremists, and this is a recipe for an impending disaster.