President Bush will host Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the White House on Monday for separate meetings ahead of a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, that will formally launch Middle East peace talks.

Bush will open the Annapolis conference with a speech. He'll make clear that Mideast peace is a top priority for the rest of his time in office through January 2009, indicating a level of interest in the conflict never seen before in this administration. Analysts see the talks as an effort by the administration to build up a legacy other than the war in Iraq.

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said that after seven years of largely avoiding the peace process, the Bush administration is now playing its hand. Although the key issues are basically same as always, Indyk sees one new element in the background — a common fear among the U.S., Arab states and Israel about a rising Iran.

"The old line — the enemy of my enemy is my friend, … is fueling this peace meeting more than any other factor," Indyk said.

Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator now with the New America Foundation, said that earlier this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried to get Arab help on Iraq and Iran. She was told by her Arab counterparts that Washington needed to do something on the Israeli-Palestinian to take that card out of Iran's hands.

"It was like two ships passing in the night and eventually I think something got through," Levy said. "The sense of this administration was … either an ideological opposition to connecting the dots in the Middle East. … That has changed and I think Annapolis signifies that change." ...

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