RIYADH: The Middle East peace plan adopted by the Arab League, is back into the centre stage. It could be the basis for any resolution of the decades-old Arab-Israel conflict. And the realisation, within the influential circles in White House and Capitol Hill that a resolution of the Arab Israel conflict would help US overcome many of its current problems, has given a new ray of hope to the still large breed of optimists in the Arab world.
Arab countries are now seen pushing for and pursuing ‘end game’ rather than peace process in the Middle East. For the first time a consensus seem to have emerged within the Arab world that time was ripe for peace in the region. Israel’s failure in achieving its objectives through its military machine may also help in this regard, some here believe.
“We have found for the first time probably a consensus that is very significant about the need of restarting the (faltering Middle East) peace process,” the Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud al-Faisal, said.
Since the end of Israeli-Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon on Aug 14, leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria have been staying in close touch. There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in the Arab capitals over the last couple of weeks hinting at a new push to the peace process.
Prince Saud al-Faisal said he was encouraged by the fact that the US was taking greater interest in resolving the Middle East imbroglio. “The US President, George W. Bush, is showing a new concentration on the Middle East peace process,” he hinted. He, however, said Washington still had trouble being seen in the Arab world as an honest broker.
Washington increasingly is coming to the view that peace between Palestinians and Israelis will help its other interests in the region, including fighting terrorism, he added.
The Arab League and Greece, which holds the Security Council presidency, gathered foreign ministers of the Security Council member countries for a debate on reviving the peace process and ending all Arab-Israeli conflicts, earlier the week.
Sheikh Khaled, Bahrain’s foreign minister, presented the Arab League’s proposal to the meeting asking Kofi Annan to prepare a report on means to resume direct talks among all the parties and ascertain the role the Security Council and other bodies could play.
