Is there an Arab country the Bush administration won’t appease? Evidently not!

RAMALLAH, West Bank – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Washington plans to invite six Arab states, including Syria, to a Middle East peace conference, Mr. Abbas’ aides said.

Mr. Abbas’ senior aide, Nimer Hammad, said yesterday that Washington would like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, plus the Palestinian Authority to attend the U.S.-sponsored conference, expected to be held in November.

Miss Rice met with Mr. Abbas during her sixth visit to the region last week as part of efforts to prod Israel and the Palestinians closer to an agreement ahead of the conference.

“Rice told President Abbas in their meeting on Thursday that the U.S. plans to invite the Arab states delegated by the Arab League to follow up the Arab peace initiative. These … states, of course, include Syria and Lebanon,” Mr. Hammad said.

Miss Rice did not say publicly during her visit who would be invited to the conference, expected to be scheduled in the Washington area.

Among the six Arab states, only Jordan and Egypt have full diplomatic relations with Israel. The rest link formal ties with the Jewish state to an Israeli withdrawal from Arab land it occupied in 1967. Relations between Israel and Syria are particularly tense after reports that the Jewish state conducted air strikes in Syria this month.

Syria has said it was ready to take part in the conference President Bush suggested in July to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. U.S.-Syrian relations have plummeted in recent years because of policy differences over Iraq, Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Doubts have risen recently about the conference from Israeli-Palestinian differences over the outcome of the meeting, with Saudi Arabia saying it may not attend unless the discussions addressed all issues and a timetable for peace was agreed in advance.