By Deborah Charles
A picturesque waterfront city, once the capital of the United States, has a chance of making Middle East history this month when Israelis and Palestinians meet to talk peace.
"We wonder 'Why here?"' said a Main Street shop employee in Annapolis, a city of 36,000 people best known as home to the 162-year-old U.S. Naval Academy. "I think it's security -- they can lock the gates at the academy."
All over town, people said they were bracing for the tight security likely to accompany Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the U.S.-brokered meeting in the city.
"It's going to close everything up," said the employee of the upscale boutique, who asked not to be identified, as she contemplated the potential damage to the start of the Christmas shopping season. "This is our best season of the year and they're going to take it away from us."
"Parking is always hard and it will get even worse," said a woman who wanted to be identified only as Patty. As she stood in her antiques and housewares shop on brick-lined Main Street, she said business already seemed unusually slow this year in the historic tourist city and Maryland state capital.
While not as remote as the Camp David presidential retreat -- site to past Middle East peace talks -- the Naval Academy offers a secure environment that is only a few blocks away from downtown shops and restaurants.
CAPITAL CITY
The narrow streets in downtown Annapolis were built in the 17th and 18th centuries, hardly ideal for heavy traffic. Ben Crane, a clerk at a historic inn across the street from the State House, wondered if the influx of people and heightened security would cause even more congestion.
Israel and the Palestinians regard the international gathering in Annapolis as a launching point for talks on Palestinian statehood, borders, the future of Jerusalem and millions of Palestinian refugees.
The 350-year-old city served as the first U.S. peacetime capital from 1783 to 1784 after the signing of the Treaty of Paris formally ending the Revolutionary War with Britain.
Now Annapolis will join other small U.S. locales such as Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore and Shepherdstown, West Virginia, as a site of Middle East talks.
Some shopkeepers didn't seem to care much about the potential of adding a notch to Annapolis history.
"I just hope it brings in more shoppers," Patty said.
City tourism officials said they had not been told the precise date for the Middle East talks but insisted the city was prepared for the influx of officials and media.
"Despite the late notice of the actual date, we should be able to get prepared," said Connie Del Signore, president of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau.
Del Signore acknowledged that residents might be inconvenienced by tightened security but said tourism officials were thrilled Annapolis had been chosen as the venue.
"A lot of great history has happened in Annapolis," she said. "So it would be great if peace were brokered in Annapolis."
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