The most ambitious effort in almost a decade to secure peace in the Middle East begins in Annapolis on Tuesday with Israel and the Palestinians still balking at the terms of a joint declaration on where their negotiations are heading.

As President George W. Bush held separate talks at the White House with Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, made a final effort to secure agreement on a statement.