All or nothing

Israel | Israelis and Palestinians leave Annapolis pledged to negotiate but without making needed compromises | Jill Nelson

Bush looks on as Olmert (left) shakes hands with Abbas at the summit

Chick & Ruth's Delly in Annapolis, Md., has a daily tradition. At 8:30 a.m. on weekdays (9:30 on Saturdays and Sundays), eating and serving cease so that all in the Main Street restaurant may stand to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

On Nov. 27, owner Ted Levitt was running a little behind. Annapolis was crawling with hundreds of journalists in town for the landmark Mideast conference, and two were filming Levitt behind his deli counter. Not far away delegates from 43 nations and about a dozen international organizations converged—under massive security—on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy to chart a course the Bush administration hopes will end in a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side.