25 January 2004	Sunday	02 Zilhaj 1424

RIYADH, Jan 24: Israel cannot reach peace with Palestinians until Prime Minister Ariel Sharon changes policy and halts construction of a barrier through the West Bank, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Prince Saud al Faisal said the barrier, which cuts deep into West Bank territory seized by Israel in the 1967 war, was part of a plan to divide Palestinians into separate "cantons" and drive the rest into Jordan.

Israel says the concrete and razor-wire barrier will prevent suicide bombers infiltrating to attack Israeli targets. Palestinians say it has already cut off communities and amounts to an Israeli land-grab pre-empting any future peace deal.

The barrier will "rule out every prospect or possibility of a solution", Prince Saud said in the interview. "The purpose of this wall is to divide the Palestinian population into a manageable number in three cantons."

Other parts of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, would be taken by Israel and Palestinians would be driven out.

"Where would they go? Of course they will go to Jordan and he (Sharon) will claim this is the Palestinian state," the prince said. "I don't think peace can be achieved if the policy of Mr Sharon determines the prospects of peace."

Saudi Arabia, which launched a peace plan two years ago promising normal ties between Arab states and Israel in return for full withdrawal from all Arab land occupied in the 1967 war, says it is trying to revitalize the proposal.

Prince Saud said it would be discussed by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo next month and Saudi Arabia hoped it would win the firm support of the European Union and United States.

Many Arabs fear growing US preoccupation with presidential elections this year could stall any international push to end Israeli-Palestinian violence, which has raged for the last three years after peace talks foundered.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said on a visit to Riyadh two weeks ago he had discussed plans with Saudi Arabia for the renewed Arab drive to end the impasse.

"We think it's the worst time to be complacent," Prince Saud said. "What we want is to reinvigorate the push towards peace."

"And we hope no unilateral action will be taken during this period of stagnation that will jeopardise the situation further and make prospects of action after the (US) election even less feasible than they are now."

APPEAL TO IRAN: The foreign minister said it wanted Iran to hand over any Saudi Al Qaeda militants rather than put them on trial, but added it did not know how many of its nationals were being held by Iranian authorities.

Responding to Iran's announcement on Friday that it would put 12 jailed suspects of the Al Qaeda network on trial, Prince Saud said Tehran had not revealed if any were Saudis.

"We have been having discussions with Iran and we have a security agreement with Iran and they had promised if there are any Saudis they would hand them over. We still hope that they would do that," Prince Saud said in an interview.

Iran has never confirmed the identity of the Al Qaeda suspects it says it is holding. According to Western intelligence and Saudi sources, they may include Al Qaeda's security chief, Egyptian Seif al Adel, and Saad bin Laden, a son of Osama.

"This is why we want for both countries to exchange whatever information and people that they have - so that we can come to terms with who is and who isn't responsible," Prince Saud said.

Asked if he believed Saad bin Laden was being held in Iran, he said the question should not have to be one of guesswork. "We have an agreement with Iran on this. This agreement should allow us to exchange information rather than speculation."

The foreign minister said Saudi Arabia's cooperation with other countries, including the United States, had helped foil further attacks, both on US soil and elsewhere.

Relations between Washington and Riyadh have been strained by accusations that Saudi Arabia did too little to fight militancy.-Reuters