President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says it was a failure. Put Condi in charge of anything other than her daily workout and it’s bound for failure.

Arab commentators on Wednesday dismissed the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian talks as a U.S.’staged media event unlikely to lead to Middle East peace.

Some argued that U.S. President George W. Bush’s real aim in convening Tuesday’s conference in Annapolis, Maryland, was to rescue his image after failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, or to persuade Arab states their deadliest foe was Iran, not Israel.

“The failure of Annapolis is now clear. (President Mahmoud) Abbas will return to Palestine without anything,” said Essam el-Erian, a senior leader in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

“The conference was designed for public relations and the participants were obliged to participate,” he contended.

Lebanon’s former telecommunications minister Essam Noman, writing in the opposition al-Akhbar newspaper, said the United States had succeeded in “dragging the Arabs to a diplomatic talkfest”.

Washington’s message, he said, was “I am the policeman (an Arabic word-play on Annapolis) of the Middle East, responsible for your safety and stability. Beware deviousness and troublemaking, Israel isn’t the enemy, Iran is”.

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