NEW YORK/GAZA CITY, 10 November — Saudi Arabia was "angrily frustrated" that the Bush administration had failed to begin a promised new Middle East peace initiative, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said in an interview published in yesterday’s New York Times.

President Bush has rejected an opportunity to meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at the United Nations this weekend, with his national security adviser saying Arafat was not serious about the US-led war on terrorism.

Bush’s failure to commit personal prestige to forging a final peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians "makes a sane man go mad," The New York Times quoted Prince Al-Faisal as saying in an interview in Washington on Thursday before going to New York for the UN General Assembly.

"The thing that is so sad is that what is needed to make peace is very little," the foreign minister said. He added that Bush must establish himself as an "honest broker" and "cannot be an honest broker and only meet with one side."

Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath, on the Voice of Palestine radio before a meeting yesterday with Secretary of State Colin Powell, praised the European peace initiative, saying, "It talks about an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, putting an end to the Israeli occupation" as well as "a just solution for the problem of refugees in return for recognizing Israel’s borders and its security needs."

But senior administration officials played down the significance of any new plan. "The Europeans have all kinds of ideas but they’re not going to go anywhere," said one administration official.

Bush’s reluctance to play an active role in bringing an end to the violence in Israel and the occupied territories and brokering a peace agreement has frustrated America’s closest allies.

Before the terror attacks of Sept. 11, Bush was expected to meet Arafat at the General Assembly. Some senior administration officials are now concerned Bush’s reversal will be seen as a loss of face for Arafat and cause him to boycott the General Assembly, further alienating him from the United States.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops shot dead a deaf-mute Palestinian as Tel Aviv braced for further attacks yesterday, amid warnings of Palestinians infiltrating from the Gaza Strip. Samir Abu Halib, 37, was walking near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel at Al-Qarara, when he was hit by five bullets in the head and legs, the sources said. His family said he was deaf and mute.

In Gaza, Palestinian officials accused the United States yesterday of giving in to Israeli demands by ruling out talks at the weekend between President Bush and President Arafat.