WASHINGTON - In April of 2002, then-Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, to present a plan for peace in the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict, but the Bush administration did little to push it forward.
Abdullah, who is now the country's king, "was really quite crushed," said James E. Akins, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who maintains contact with Abdullah. "I and a lot of other people thought it would end the Arab-Israeli conflict. But it was not pursued. We didn't give him any support at all."
Now, five years later, it is the Bush administration that is courting Abdullah's support for an international initiative, to be launched today in Annapolis, Md., that US officials hope will reopen the chances for a comprehensive peace.
The United States badly needs the help of Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies to bolster the weak, fledgling government in Iraq and to counter the rising threat of Iran, a Shi'ite Muslim neighbor that US officials believe is trying to build a nuclear weapon.
Many analysts see the new regional context as the real reason behind the Bush administration's change of heart about involving itself in the struggle to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"I think really it is intended to get the Arab states, the Sunni states, to cooperate more on Iraq, Iran and other issues," said Kenneth Katzman, a specialist on the Middle East with the Congressional Research Service, a research arm of Congress. "If they get movement on the peace process, that's gravy, that's great."
Katzman said he believes another goal is to send a message to Iran by hosting a meeting of more than 40 countries, including Syria, a crucial ally of Iran.
"It would be a blow to Iran, and show that hard-line views are not prevailing," he said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has denied that Iran and Iraq are the real rationale for the gathering at the US Naval Academy. But she acknowledges that the administration is trying to form a regional coalition against Iran and its extremist allies, who use the suffering of Palestinians as a tool for recruitment to their cause.
"It is, in fact, the case that there is a regional context here," Rice told reporters last week, adding that the countries who are attending the meeting "understand the broader threat of extremism in the region, and that extremists use this conflict in that way."
Saudi officials have been deeply suspicious of the Annapolis effort, openly questioning whether it would simply be a photo opportunity. They only announced their attendance in recent days, after months of haggling with US officials over whether anything substantial would come of the conference and whether the Saudi peace plan would be discussed.
The meeting follows several months of tension between the United States and Saudi Arabia over Iraq and other issues. US officials were frustrated that Saudi Arabia had not done more to support the Shi'ite-dominated government in Iraq.
Saudi officials, meanwhile, were angry at what they considered incompetent US management there. They were also deeply offended this summer when Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the United Nations, appeared to publicly accuse Saudi Arabia of pursuing "destabilizing policies" in Iraq.
Saudi and American diplomats were also at odds over what do to when the militant Palestinian group Hamas won a landslide victory over the more-moderate Fatah in elections in January 2006.
Saudi officials encouraged Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government, bringing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to Mecca last February in an unsuccessful bid to stop vicious infighting.
But State Department officials pursued the opposite policy: They encouraged the demise of the unity government by supporting Fatah and shunning Hamas, which they consider a terrorist organization.
Despite the differences, Saudi Arabia's participation in today's meeting is considered key. King Abdullah is seen as one of the few leaders in the Muslim world who could promote reconciliation between Israel and its Arab neighbors - seen as crucial to any comprehensive peace agreement.
"If they hadn't shown up, it would have really made the peace conference a farce," said Chuck Freilich, who served as Israel's deputy national security adviser and is a senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
But he said merely attending isn't enough - Saudi Arabia needs to show Israel that reconciliation is possible, with a symbolic action, such as ending the boycott on Israeli goods.
"Once they are willing to do more than just come to the meeting, that would really signal a change of heart in the region."
But others say the onus is on Israel to realize that Saudi Arabia is already taking a risk by sitting at the same table as Israeli officials.
"It comes at a cost to be associated with the US and Israel right now," said Emile El-Hokayem, a research fellow at the Stimpson Center, a Washington-based national security think tank.
"The biggest criticism today in the Arab world is that leaders don't care about their Palestinian brothers, and, worse than this, that they are in league with the United States and Israel, ganging up on Palestinians, while Iran is standing firm."
