Senior government officials said Thursday that “final status” issues such as the border of a Palestinian Authority state and control over Jerusalem would be included in a joint statement to be made by Israel and the PA in the United States-sponsored Annapolis conference.  The decision to include the issues was made following a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

According to Rice, the joint statement would “give a direction for future negotiations,” but would not include actual solutions.  Israeli officials have warned that attempting to negotiate the status of Jerusalem or of millions of foreign Arab “refugees” at this time could cause negotiations to break down, and could even lead to violence.