WASHINGTON/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 26 February — Palestinian and Lebanese officials yesterday welcomed the new Saudi peace proposal as Israeli President Moshe Katsav offered to visit Riyadh or receive the Saudi crown prince in Jerusalem to discuss the initiative, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hamoud described the proposals made by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, as part of solid Arab principles.
In Israel, President Katsav said he was ready to meet with Saudi leaders if he is invited to Riyadh to advance the peace initiative, the president’s office said in a statement.
Political sources told the London-based Arabic daily that Katsav’s statement was a move to avoid giving a direct reply to the peace offer.
“I am afraid that (Israeli Premier Ariel) Sharon, the Israeli right and their US supporters may try to destroy the new peace offer by talking about procedural issues, as they have not yet replied to its contents,” Saeb Erakat of Palestinian Authority told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He said Prince Abdullah’s offer was the most important initiative on the Middle East peace after the Madrid peace conference, adding that it will bring things back on track. “It focuses on the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian refugees. I hope the United States and the European Union would take it seriously.”
The crown prince’s initiative, revealed in the New York Times earlier this month, involves the Arab world normalizing ties with the Jewish state in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the plan was “new, interesting and fascinating,” while Sharon has reportedly asked Washington to arrange a meeting with the Saudi leadership to discuss it. Peres, however, specified Israel would welcome a direct negotiation with the Saudi leaders with no conditions.
Although no formal proposal had yet been received, the Israeli government was trying to weigh the nature of the Saudi peace initiative, Peres said.
“Under the assumption that what has been published is correct, it must be said that we’re speaking of a positive trend,” Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said on army radio.
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States was considering Prince Abdullah’s peace initiative as an “important step” toward Middle East peace. However, Powell said Washington would need further details before taking a definite position.
Powell said he had thanked the crown prince for the proposal. “I thanked him for the initiative that he frankly put on the table,” Powell told reporters after meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique at the State Department. “I think it’s an important step that we have welcomed and I wanted to share that with the crown prince, our reaction to his idea.”
White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said President George W. Bush “welcomes all initiatives whose goal is to bring peace to the Middle East,” and suggested the Mitchell Plan, devised by an international team headed by ex-Sen. George Mitchell “represents the best path to achieve that peace.”
Fleischer said further that during a visit to the region next month, Vice President Dick Cheney would certainly bring up the Saudi initiative in discussions to end violence in the region.
Powell said it was premature to discuss specifics of the proposal under which Israel would withdraw to its 1967 borders in exchange for Arab recognition.
“There is a lot of debate with respect to the 1967 agreement,” he said when asked specifically about an Israeli withdrawal.
“I think at this point it was important for us, as we did, to welcome the idea from the crown prince and in the weeks ahead we’ll flesh it out in greater detail before we start taking definitive positions on any aspect of the proposal,” he said. “I want to make sure that we have a common understanding on both sides.”
Meanwhile, a Riyadh-based Arab diplomat told AFP that Prince Abdullah is firmly opposed to the normalization of ties with Israel before it evacuates occupied Arab lands. “Riyadh expects Israel to make the first step (by pulling out of the occupied territories) and the United Nations to provide guarantees” before it will agree to a rapprochement with the Jewish state,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi crown prince caught Israel by surprise when, in a recent interview in the New York Times, he spoke of his proposed peace initiative. The proposal immediately made world news.
US Secretary of State Powell spent the weekend “working the phones,” and held separate discussions with Prince Abdullah, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Jordan’s King Abdallah.
The Bush administration has reportedly established a team of experts from the White House, the State Department and the CIA, to examine the proposal in depth.
In exclusive interviews, Arab News today spoke with Sharon’s spokesman Ra’anan Gissin, and with Israel’s president spokesman, Avi Granot, regarding Prince Abdullah’s statement. Both men spoke of a Palestinian right to statehood.
Gissin said he was misquoted recently in Asharq Al-Awsat regarding his statement that the crown prince’s initiative constituted “interference in domestic Isreali affairs.”
“I said that the proposal, as it is, is welcome by all Israelis, regardless of who is in power — whether the prime minister is from left, or from the right... We are seeking peace. So it is natural that any gesture that comes from any Arab country — especially the one that came from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. It says we should solve the conflict — not through war, but through negotiations, and it is of interest to us.”
Gissin said Prince Abdullah’s proposal is, “in itself, welcome. The prime minister has said it is an interesting program, and that any thing that can enhance the situation is welcome.”
Gissin said Sharon and his government would like to see Crown Prince Abdullah’s plan, as until now, they have only read about it in the New York Times. “We are waiting to hear more from the Saudis, and we are trying to explore, and find out from other sources, the validity of the subject of this proposal.”
The prime minister is said to be working discreetly behind the scenes, which Gissin affirmed: “Maybe not directly, but through envoys and other channels that we have in common, and through (Israeli Foreign Minister) Shimon Peres — to see the seriousness and comprehensiveness of this proposal.
“The immediate implementation of the Mitchell Plan, which Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel Al-Jubeir told Fox News yesterday was a basic tenet of Crown Prince Abdullah’s proposal.”
Gissin again said that everyone in Israel is eager to read the full text of Crown Prince Abdullah’s plan. He said the biggest question being asked is: “How we can get from here to there — how we can start negotiating?”
The Saudi innitiative is said to have caught the attention of all of Israel.
Granot, spokesman for President Kartzav, said: “What the president has stated, when asked by journalists, was that the plan of Crown Prince Adbullah is significant and of great interest. Assuming that the Saudi crown prince is interested in its success, I think the natural approach would be to get together to discuss the plan.”
“If this plan remains in the headlines I think it will be a positive thing,” added Granot.
