ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan will be representing Pakistan at the US-hosted Middle East Peace Conference in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday that will focus on resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mr Khan left for the United States on Sunday evening after getting the green light from the highest level to attend the ministerial-level conference, it is learnt.

“Pakistan welcomes any proposals that would bring peace and stability to the Middle East and could resolve the core issue of Palestine that has caused instability, suffering and conflict in the region for the last several decades,” Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq had told a weekly news briefing on Wednesday while announcing that Pakistan had received the invitation from the US to attend the conference.

The conference which is said to mark the first Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in seven years has been praised by both the Israeli and Palestinian presidents as a historic opportunity.

The Arab League ministers on Friday agreed to attend the conference, hoping to push for the establishment of a Palestinian state and for Israel to return the occupied Golan Heights to Syria.

However, Hamas on Saturday condemned the decision of the Arab powers to endorse the conference. Even the Iranian president has condemned the upcoming peace talks as “anti-Palestine”, saying the intention is to forge ties between Arab countries and Zionist regime.

Apart from the two main parties -- Israel and Palestine -- the US has invited 47 other countries, organisations and individuals to the conference. Among the invitees are select members the

Arab League, five permanent members of the UN Security Council and UN secretary-general, the international “quartet” on the Middle East and its special envoy Tony Blair, the G-8 nations and the EU.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will probably be the only head of state who will be attending the conference.