AL QUDS, Feb 26: Israeli leader Ariel Sharon expressed readiness on Tuesday to meet Saudi officials over a Saudi peace initiative that drew praise from US President George W. Bush for its vision of Israeli-Arab normalisation.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, cut short a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories and planned to go to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss Crown Prince Abdullah’s surprise peace plan.
The proposal by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince calls on Arab states to recognise Israel and normalise relations with the Jewish state in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
Any proposal for a total Israeli pullout from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights would face opposition from right-wingers in Israel, where security concerns have mounted alongside violence in a 17-month-old Palestinian uprising that has left more than 1100 people dead.
But after meeting Sharon, Solana told reporters the Israeli leader considered the Saudi proposal “an interesting idea”.
He said Sharon “would like to know more about the content and he would be ready to meet anybody from Saudi Arabia, formally, informally, publicly, discreetly, whatever, to get better information about this initiative”.
Raanan Gissin, a Sharon spokesman, said the prime minister “was always ready to meet any Arab leader interested in advancing peace.”
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who Sharon accuses of fostering anti-Israeli attacks and refuses to meet, said he “appreciated and supported completely” Abdullah’s efforts.
Washington appeared to be warming to the Saudi initiative. A White House spokesman said US President George W. Bush spoke with the crown prince about it on Tuesday.
“The president praised the crown prince’s ideas regarding the full Arab-Israeli normalisation once a comprehensive peace agreement has been reached,” spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
DEFENCE MINISTER: Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer also welcomed the Saudi peace proposal and said efforts were under way to resume Israeli-Palestinian security talks.
“It should be looked at positively,” Ben-Eliezer’s spokesman quoted him as saying about the Saudi initiative during a meeting with Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
“It has new elements and it should therefore be encouraged and must not be rejected,” the defence minister said, apparently referring to the pan-Arab aspect of the proposal by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah.
Ben-Eliezer told Solana he was taking action to renew the security talks as soon as possible.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office quoted him as saying earlier in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell that Israel “will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens” following the latest bloodshed.
But Israel Radio said Sharon was holding off retaliating for now because of diplomatic pressure.
Numerous international efforts, including a US-backed truce-to-talks plan, have failed to stem bloodshed in which 892 Palestinians have been killed since September 2000, when the uprising against Israeli occupation began.
Solana, who will be the first senior diplomat to discuss the Saudi initiative with Abdullah face-to-face since it was floated in a New York Times article on Feb 17, said the proposal contained two important new elements.
“One is part of the message,” he said, referring to normalisation, “and the other is the messenger...Saudi Arabia is an important Arab country and this is coming from them.”
Despite a new spasm of Israeli-Palestinian violence on Monday, US-hosted security talks between the two sides were due to resume later on Tuesday.
The Palestinian cabinet said after an urgent meeting it had approved a resumption of the talks in response to international appeals.
The Palestinians suspended the sessions on Sunday after Israel said its army blockades would continue to keep Arafat confined to the West Bank city of Ramallah. —Reuters
