CAIRO/JERUSALEM, 3 April 2007 — An Arab League committee will set up a working group to contact Israel about a land-for-peace Arab peace initiative to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a senior Egyptian official said yesterday.

The working group would be one of several with missions to make contacts and promote the Arab initiative, which offers Israel normal relations in return for withdrawal to the 1967 borders and a settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem.

“Some of the working groups will be commissioned to contact Israel, the United Nations and the international Quartet,” Assistant Foreign Minister Hani Khallaf told reporters. The so-called Quartet includes the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.

The members of the working group would be drawn from the 11-member Arab League committee, set up at last week’s Arab summit, and the committee includes Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab countries which have signed peace treaties with Israel.

Diplomats say Egypt and the United States have been pressing Israel to agree to hold talks as soon as possible with the Arab League committee but an Arab League official said on Monday it was not clear if the whole committee would meet the Israelis.

If the contact with Israel is through a small working group, which does not include Saudi Arabia, the impact would be much lower than if the whole committee had talks with Israelis.

It was not immediately clear if the working group would set conditions for direct contacts with Israel, such as Israeli acceptance of the Arab plan as the basis for detailed talks.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert drew fire yesterday for being disingenuous after saying he was ready to meet Arab leaders to discuss a Saudi-drafted plan for peace in the Middle East.

“I invite all the heads of the Arab states, including of course the Saudi king whom I consider a very important leader, to hold talks with us,” Olmert told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Jerusalem late on Sunday.

In another development, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz has authorized the Israeli Army to carry out operations just inside the Gaza border against Palestinian militants, Defense Ministry sources said yesterday. Olmert has played down the chances for now of launching any major Israeli offensive inside Gaza, though he has not ruled it out.