US:Inside the ornate Memorial Hall at the US Naval Academy, where delegates for the Middle East peace conference met yesterday, a large blue flag hangs with words immortal in American history: "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP."
The flag is not intended as a message to the parties who abandoned the peace process in 2000, US state department officials say. Historical symbolism though was a major reason Annapolis, the 300- year-old city on the Severn river, was chosen as the setting for the conference, attended by delegates from nearly 50 countries and organisations.
Annapolis also fits other criteria: state department officials wanted a site within helicopter range of (or a short flight from) Washington to make it easier for President George Bush and other officials to attend.
They needed a facility large enough to accommodate at least 50 delegations because of Arab insistence that the conference would have broader international representation. They needed a site that could be flexible because of uncertainty about when the conference would take place and they needed a place with tight security. The academy grounds are surrounded by water and a tall brick wall.
The primary meetings will be in Memorial Hall, sometimes described as the spiritual heart of the academy. The words stitched on the flag in Memorial Hall are said to be the dying command of James Lawrence, captain of the USS Chesapeake, who was killed during a naval battle with the British during the war of 1812.
Beneath the flag, a scroll bears the names of more than 900 academy graduates killed in action in the nation's wars. "We want to remind the delegates of that sacrifice," says the deputy chief of staff for planning for secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Brian Besanceney.
He also noted that the city hosted the Annapolis convention in 1786, which led to the constitutional convention the next year in Philadelphia.
"The city of Annapolis played an important but overlooked role in creating our country," he said.
The superintendent of the academy, Vice-Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, said in a statement that he was pleased at the prospect of hosting hundreds of foreign delegates and reporters.
Perhaps no one is happier than the city's hoteliers, who typically experience a lull in business around the holidays. "This is good for the hotels in Annapolis," said Larry Beiderman, general manger of the Loews Annapolis Hotel, which is almost sold out.
Mr Beiderman said the hotel decided "to do our little part" for the peace effort by arranging a special turndown service for guests: a home-made sugar sweet with white icing "in the shape of a dove with an olive branch". Each sweet will be accompanied by a card bearing lyrics from John Lennon's paean to peace Imagine.
The US homeland security department said last week that it had found no reports of credible terrorist threats to the conference but urged state and local police to be on alert.