Saudis back new peace drive, shun Israel call for ties (AFP) November 28, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, United States (AFP) - Saudi Arabia backed Tuesday's launch here of a new Middle East peace drive, but shunned Israel's call for the Arab world to normalize ties with it even before a deal with the Palestinians.
"We have come to support the launching of serious and continuing talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis that will address all the core and final status issues," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said in a statement to the peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
"These talks must be followed by the launching of the Syrian and Lebanese tracks at the earliest," he added, citing other regional issues of concern to Arab states.
Saudi Arabia, a principal patron of the Palestinians and an influential voice in the Muslim world, demanded Israel take concrete step towards ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories and making peace.
"We hope the positive words will be matched with concrete actions on the ground. we have heard in the past statements and indications of freezing settlements and dismantling of illegal outposts and removing checkpoitns in the Palestinian territories. But we would like to see it this time implemented."
After reluctantly yielding to US pressure to attend the conference, the Saudis offered a cold shoulder to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's call for the Arab world to normalize ties with the Jewish state even before a peace deal is clinched.
"Normalization happens after there is peace," the Saudi ambassador to the United States Adel al-Juber told reporters following the conference.
The Saudi envoy said that a 2002 Arab peace initiative offering formal Arab diplomatic ties with Israel in return for an Israeli pullout from all land occupied in the 1967 war was still the basis for progress.
"The Arab peace initiative is very specific as to what it requires and is very specific as to what payoff will be the … you do not get the fruits of peace before you make peace, and we have made that very clear," al-Juber said.
In his speech in the Memorial Hall at the Annapolis Navy Academy, Prince Saud appeared to put the burden for creating the conditions for forging diplomatic ties on Israel.
"Peace emanates from the heart and mind, and not from the barrel of a cannon, or the exploding warhead of a missile," he said.
"The time has come for Israel to put its trust in peace after it has gambled on war for decades without success," he said.
"Israel, and the world, must understand that peace and the retention of the occupied Arab territories are incompatible and impossible to reconcile or achieve," he said in a text released to the media.
In his speech at the start of the conference, Olmert urged Arab and Muslim states to follow the example of Egypt and Jordan in signing peace deals with Israel and ending a 60-year old boycott.
"I am pleased to see here in this hall representatives of Arab countries. Most of them do not have diplomatic relations with Israel. The time has come for you as well," he told representatives of over 40 states.
"It is time to end the boycott and alienation towards the state of Israel. It is not helpful for you, and it hurts us."
Saudi Arabia has never recognized Israel and no senior figure from the state has held public talks with Israeli officials except for meetings at the United Nations and a 1996 international summit on fighting terrorism.
Most of the 22-member Arab League does not recognize Israel.