RIYADH, Sept 25: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert secretly met a senior Saudi official 12 days ago, Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said on Monday.
The report did not specify the identity of the Saudi official. Some anonymous Israeli officials hinted that Mr Olmert had met King Abdullah while some other sources told the daily the talks were with a senior Saudi official close to the king.
Israel’s biggest-selling daily reported that some of its sources said Mr Olmert had met King Abdullah 10 days ago.
Other sources, the newspaper added, identified the Saudi as a senior member of the royal family.
However, Mr Olmert on Monday scotched speculations that he had met King Abdullah. “I did not meet the Saudi king and I did not meet any element which should have caused a sensation in the press.”
According to sources privy to the meeting, the Saudi peace plan put forward by then Crown Prince Abdullah and adopted by the Arab league summit in 2002 in Beirut was the main item on the agenda of the Israeli-Saudi talks.
The Saudi-sponsored peace plan called for a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israel imbroglio, a full Israeli withdrawal from lands it captured in the 1967 war in exchange for normalisation and relations with all Arab countries.
When the news of secret Israeli-Saudi contacts broke last week, the Saudi government had denied it. Osama Nuqli, an official at the Saudi foreign ministry, told Asharq al-Awsat that his country had not established any contacts with the Israeli side.
