RIYADH, March 3: Intensified Arab and international diplomatic contacts are expected here within the days and weeks ahead, to discuss the peace proposal floated by the Saudi crown prince.

Riyadh is at the centre of this diplomatic flurry, which also involves Washington, the EU capitals, besides the entire Arab and the Muslim world.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah has pointed out to the visiting US Assistant Foreign Secretary for Near East Affairs, William Burns and CIA Director George Tenet that the continued Israeli violence against the Palestinians is an attempt to circumvent his Middle East peace initiative.

It also indicated that Israel was unwilling to realize stability in the region and live in peace with its Arab neighbours, he told the visiting US delegation, which was here to discuss the peace initiative undertaken by the Saudi crown prince to resolve the Israel-Arab conflict.

Quoting diplomatic sources in Riyadh, the Saudi daily Al-Watan said that Tenet was likely to return to the Kingdom within a fortnight for further talks on the issue.

It has been reported here that the Saudi leadership has informed all the concerned countries that the initiative undertaken by the Crown Prince covers all the contentious issues between the Arab states and Israel, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the territories occupied in 1967, including Al Quds, the Golan Heights and Shib’a farms in Lebanon.

The sources said Burns and Tenet informed the Crown Prince that the Bush administration supports the peace initiative and that it would intensify contacts with the Israeli government, urging it to stop its violence against the Palestinians.