RIYADH, 28 April — An eight-point document put forward by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and author of an Arab peace proposal, is a serious attempt to involve the United States more in the Middle East peace process, analysts said yesterday.
“It is an attempt to get the US administration out of its silence and passiveness toward the situation in the Middle East,” political analyst Dawood Al-Shurayan said.
“The plan includes the most important points of the Arab peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia, but has bypassed controversial issues like the right of return of Palestinian refugees and the issue of East Jerusalem,” Shurayan told AFP.
“Political reality now does not accept such issues to be discussed at present. It can be discussed later,” he said.
The plan, which appears to be largely an amalgam of existing proposals for ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict, recommends:
— An Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian-ruled areas taken over in recent incursions;
— A lifting of the Israeli siege of Ramallah;
— The creation of a multinational peace force for the territories;
— The reconstruction of Palestinian infrastructure devastated by the fighting;
— Talks on US security plans, including the Tenet work plan and the Mitchell plan;
— The halting of Israeli settlement building;
— A renunciation of violence by both sides;
— A concerted US attempt to implement UN resolution 242 passed in 1967, which called for an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land.
The White House described as “constructive” the plan, which Crown Prince Abdullah presented to US President George W. Bush during their talks on Thursday at the president’s Texas ranch.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer noted that the US government was open to the idea of deploying international monitors in the Palestinian territories, rather than a peace force, but only if both sides agreed.
“The paper the Saudis presented has a whole series of ideas on it many of which the president views we can make progress on,” said Fleischer.
But not all the plan’s recommendations are likely to win full US support.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, currently visiting Afghanistan, said yesterday that it would be “premature” to send peacekeepers to the West Bank.
Tarad Al-Amri, head of the independent Jeddah-based Saeed Al-Amri Center for Strategic and Security Studies, said he did not expect quick results from the meeting between Crown Prince Abdullah and Bush.
“I don’t believe there are going to be moves toward the peace process in the Middle East in the short term. There will be no instant results because of the meeting,” Amri told AFP. “Bush is still preoccupied with the fight on terror, and he views every thing within this framework. I believe Bush is trying to press Arabs, and Saudi Arabia, on this issue,” he said.
Shurayan argued, however, that the Americans, by welcoming the plan, “have accepted it in principle. This is a success for the Saudi diplomacy to make Washington more concerned of the situation in the Middle East.”
Amri countered that issues like “security in the Gulf, the US military presence in the region, and the war on terrorism” received as much time on the debating table as peace in the Middle East.
Following talks with Crown Prince Abdullah, Bush called for Israel to halt its incursions into Palestinian areas and renewed his demand that Arab states starve anti-Israeli violence — especially suicide bombings — of financial and rhetorical support.
Bush said he “appreciated the crown prince’s assurance that Saudi Arabia condemns terror.” During his meeting with Bush, the crown prince had warned that US interests in the region were at risk as a result its pro-Israeli policies.
