RIYADH, May 29: A Saudi-authored Arab peace plan leaves the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a stark choice between peace and bloodshed, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz said Wednesday.

“The Saudi peace initiative ... which became an Arab initiative after its endorsement (by Arab leaders) in Lebanon, put the Israeli government at a crossroads,” Prince Abdullah, architect of the plan, told the kingdom’s Shura (Consultative) Council in a speech delivered on behalf of King Fahd.

“The first path is that of justice and peace, as (charted) in the Arab initiative. The second is the path of oppression, intransigence and tyranny, which will only lead to more bloodshed and devastation for all sides without exception,” he said.

Abdullah said the plan endorsed at an Arab summit in Beirut in late March aims at achieving “just, comprehensive and durable peace without conceding the Palestinians’ legitimate right to set up their own independent state.”

But Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler said the plan, which offers Israel peace in return for its withdrawal from occupied Arab territories, was just “the beginning of the road.”

“The initiative is the beginning, not the end, of the road. We face obstacles and difficulties, and the Arabs and Muslims must shoulder their responsibilities fully so that we can overcome them and reach a just and lasting peace,” he said.

Abdullah said that, during his visit the United States last month, “we found understanding of the Arab position on the part of President George W. Bush ... and a desire to play an active role to reach a solution.”

Speaking in the presence of a large number of foreign diplomats at the opening of the Shura’s new annual session, he also urged the “international community and peace-loving states to intervene and protect the Palestinian people against the fierce (Israeli) aggression.”

He urged the world “to implement pertinent international resolutions,” and called for Israeli troops to “withdraw from the occupied territories.”

The crown prince reiterated the oil-rich kingdom’s determination to press ahead with economic reforms, privatization and opening up of the local market to foreign investments.

The Saudi government will continue to implement shariat in all aspects of life and adopt “shura” (consultation) as a way of governance, Prince Abdullah said.

The crown prince opened the new session on behalf of the ailing King Fahd, who is in Switzerland for an undetermined period of “rest and relaxation.”

Speaker Sheikh Saleh bin Hameed said the Shura Council, now nine years old, was ready for a “comprehensive review” of its system and performance.

“We are confident that as the citizens’ trust in the council grows, its ambition to play a bigger role in monitoring” laws and government departments will grow too, he said.

The council was set up in 1993 with 60 members appointed by King Fahd. Membership was increased to 90 in the second term in 1997 and to 120 in the third term in 2001.

The all-male council has only advisory powers and does not legislate, but its role has been boosted in the past few years as it passed a number of important bills in the economic, social, educational and other domains.

Under Saudi law, the council’s decisions are not binding on the government, but as it works closely with the cabinet, its decisions are normally endorsed and implemented.

Saudi authorities have so far turned down demands to introduce elections or appoint women to the advisory body.

SUICIDE BOMBER: The Israeli army on Wednesday arrested a woman planning to blow herself up in a suicide bombing after pulling out of a similar attack last week, public radio said.

Arina Ahmad, 21, from Beit Sahur near Bethlehem, was arrested near her home. The radio said she was set to carry out last week’s attack in Rishon Letsion near Tel Aviv but changed her mind at the last minute.

The May 22 attack was instead carried out by a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, from Doha village, also close to Bethlehem.

The attack was organised by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a radical offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement. It killed two Israelis, apart from the bomber, and injured another 27.—AFP