(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-19 16:39

Eisin said negotiating teams tried in vain overnight to find common ground on a declaration, which would serve as a basis for peace talks expected to take place after the meeting.

And the liberal Haaretz newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Israeli official as saying that the continuing gaps in position may mean that Annapolis will end without a joint declaration.

"A situation is certainly possible by which there will be no joint declaration and we will have to make do with two separate statements that will be combined in the speeches of the two leaders," the official said.

Amid the deadlock, Abbas told Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at a meeting last Friday that he was pessimistic about the chances of success at the meeting.

The Israelis have sought to sound more upbeat, with Olmert saying on Sunday that the fact that the Annapolis meeting was being held was a success in itself.

"What's important is the restart of peace negotiations that have been gelled for seven years and the Annapolis meeting will take place in any event," Eisin said.

The Israeli cabinet on Monday is due to approve the release of up to 500 Palestinian prisoners - out of the some 11,000 held by Israel - ahead of Annapolis as a goodwill gesture to Abbas.

The ministers will also discuss a freeze on settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank - something that the Palestinians have demanded and that a senior Israeli official has told AFP that Olmert intends to announce at Annapolis.

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