It is important to understand what Annapolis means and what it doesn't. It certainly raises the profile of the U.S. involvement, as the U.S. will now be judge and jury (or, using the sports term, 'referee') in which they will judge which of the parties is honoring or violating the road map. The question is whether this refereeing will be made public or private and whether, as in modern American football, cameras (or rather satellites) will be used to see if the Israelis are indeed freezing settlements as the road map states, including natural growth and settlements in East Jerusalem?
Annapolis provides a mechanism and international support to negotiations for which is the kind of political will that is badly needed. But that support has also been misused to manipulate issues of Jerusalem and the Jewish state. Apparently under pressure from his right-wing ally Liberman, who threatened to leave the coalition if the word Jerusalem was used in the communique, the statement sure enough didn't mention Jerusalem. In return the statement didn't mention the Israeli demand of Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state (something even Israelis have not yet agreed on - they say that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state.) But then suddenly President Bush felt the need to say that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people?
Nothing was said in public directly about the Golan Heights, which begs the question, why did the Syrians come? Did the Saudis and/or the Americans promise them something down the line? Since the U.S. had hinted in the past to the Israelis not to talk to the Syrians, does the invitation and Syrian attendance open the way for Syrian-Israeli talks? And how will this potential opportunity for Syria (which probably considers its relationship with the U.S. more important than mere talks with Israelis) help resolve things in Lebanon? How will the conference affect the relations between Hamas and the co-star at Annapolis, Mahmoud Abbas?
The U.S. has given itself a major responsibility. Twelve months from now, we will be able to see how serious the Bush administration is about using the power of the presidency to do what is needed, pushing the Israelis to cede land and conclude a serious peace agreement.