President Bush’s national security adviser met with Jewish and other skeptics of the peace process.
The groups that met with Stephen Hadley on Monday, the eve of U.S.-convened Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, are allied through the Coordinating Council for Jerusalem, a group formed earlier this year to resist any attempt to divide or share Jerusalem.
Leading the meeting with Hadley was the Orthodox Union’s Washington office director, Nathan Diament. Other participants represented Agudath Israel of America, the National Council of Young Israel, Christians United for Israel and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Participants said Hadley was receptive to their concerns, including whether the weakened Palestinian Authority was in a position to deliver security guarantees, and whether the process was moving too fast, offering Palestinians concessions before they stopped terrorism.
Jerusalem did not play a significant role in the discussion, said a participant, who asked not to be identified, because the issue was not slated to be discussed at the Annapolis summit this week.
