Meretz MK Yossi Beilin announced Tuesday that the United States was planning a peace conference between Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials in May.  The conference will follow up on the Annapolis Conference of 2007, and will be held in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, he said.

Beilin said the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders would be present at the conference as well.  The meeting’s goal is to speed talks towards a permanent agreement, he said.  US President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have repeatedly stressed the importance of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008, when their terms will be over.