On Monday night Israeli and Palestinian officials worked together to reach a common agreement regarding the negotiations which are due to start on Tuesday at the Mideast summit in Annapolis.

According to diplomats from delegations the two sides didn’t reach any compromise and there wasn’t any hope that it will happen.

Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, denounced the summit on Tuesday. He said: “The Palestinian people will not be bound by anything the Palestinian Authority agrees to in Annapolis,” CNN quotes.

Still, on Monday Israeli and Palestinian leaders expressed their hopes regarding the peace efforts that could rise up from this conference.

On Monday President George W. Bush met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House.

Abbas called the conference a “historic initiatives” and expressed his hopes that it will set off negotiations with Israel and then a permanent peace deal.   

Olmert said: “I hope we're going to launch a serious process of negotiations between us and the Palestinians. This will be a bilateral process, but the international support is very important."

At the conference representatives of more than 40 countries will be present, including Arab nations like Syria and Saudi Arabia.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hosted a formal dinner on Monday night in Washington and Bush, Olmert and Abbas attended it.

At the dinner Bush said about the Palestinians and Israelis that they share the same goal and that is “two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,” BBC new reports. He also expressed his commitment to a peace process between the two sides.

He said: "The extremists and terrorists want our efforts to fail. We offer a more hopeful vision of a Middle East growing in freedom and dignity and prosperity."

The Bush administration hopes that this event will trigger final status talks on issues like the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.