At Camp David, Egyptian President Anwar el Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin held secret talks that led to a historic peace between their nations.

On the banks of the Wye River, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to give back part of the West Bank in return for concessions from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Now, Annapolis becomes the third Maryland locale to take a turn in the international spotlight as a venue in the long search for peace in the Middle East.

Limited to a single day, the Annapolis Conference on Tuesday will be both shorter and less ambitious than earlier negotiating sessions that put the state on the diplomatic map. It will be bracketed by private White House talks between President Bush and the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. ...

The Annapolis Conference is intended to build international support for new negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Bush administration officials hope the sides will conclude with a joint statement that will point the way toward a final settlement.

It will be the first Middle East conference held in the Colonial city on the Severn River, but hardly its first meeting of historic import. The capital of the United States for nine months in 1783 and 1784, Annapolis saw the Congress of the Confederation ratify the Treaty of Paris to end the Revolutionary War. Less than three months later, Gen. George Washington resigned his military commission at the State House, signaling that the new nation would be ruled by civilians.

In 1786, representatives of several states met in the city to reach resolution on trade issues, a gathering that came to be known as the "Annapolis Conference."

With key players absent, that conference fell apart - a "bungling," according to Steven C. Clemons of the New America Foundation. But it helped lay the groundwork for another meeting a year later, when representatives of even more states gathered in Philadelphia and drafted the U.S. Constitution. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link. For more information on the Annapolis conference, please visit the American Strategy Program website.