CAIRO - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said that there is an equal chance for achieving success or failure in the direct Middle East peace talks that resumed earlier this week, a state-owned daily reported Saturday. "There is a 50 per cent chance for both success and failure," Abul-Gheit told al-Ahram newspaper, pointing out the "importance of continuing the efforts to establish a Palestinian state because a halt (in talks) means a loss for the Palestinians." He added that the United States faces a difficult internal situation due to the economic crisis, "so it wants to achieve successes, and the success in the peace process is one of the possibilities it has." Abul-Gheit's statement came after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that this round of talks could be "the last chance for a very long time" to resolve the conflict. Israeli and Palestinian leaders held their first direct peace talks in nearly two years in Washington this week, pledging to reach a peace agreement within a year. A second round of talks is to be held September 14-15 in the Middle East - possibly in Egypt - with Clinton and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell attending. Negotiations are to continue every two weeks thereafter.
