Arab leaders: Peace initiative in danger

Officials warn they could withdraw the 2002 Arab peace offer unless Israel explicitly accepts it.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Saud Al Faisal 224 88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Saud Al Faisal 224 88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Arab officials are warning they could withdraw their landmark offer of peace and full ties with Israel in exchange for a return of Arab lands, unless Israel explicitly accepts the initiative. The warnings reflect increasing Arab impatience with the long-stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Peace negotiations have bogged down since they were re-launched at the US-sponsored Annapolis peace conference last November after a seven-year hiatus. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, whose country sponsored the Arab peace initiative, adopted by Arab nations in 2002, warned Thursday that "despair would force us to review these options," including withdrawing the proposal. He accused Israel of "sabotaging" the initiative, which is now "facing grave danger." The Arab plan offers Israel full recognition by the Arabs and peace, in return for complete withdrawal from the lands Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War, as well as the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. It also calls for Palestinian refugees' right of return to their homes in Israel to be addressed. Israel initially rejected the plan. Last year, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised the plan as "showing a positive approach" and said it would be taken into account in the peace process. But he stopped short of accepting it and rejected its call on refugees. Israel has also rejected the full withdrawal called for in the plan, hoping to hang on to several settlement blocs in the West Bank and to keep much of east Jerusalem, with its holy sites. Arab leaders are to hold a summit in March in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at which they are expected to reiterate their adherence to the peace plan. But ahead of the gathering, they have stepped up their warnings it could be rescinded. The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said the Arabs "extended the hand of peace to Israel" with the peace proposal but now face "unprecedented Israeli obstinacy." "The key to solving the Arab-Israeli issue is to hold serious negotiations, not fictitious ones," he said. Moussa's deputy at the League, Mohammed Sobeih, accused Israel of putting the "sole political initiative" on the table at risk. "If Israel makes it fail, they (Arabs) have to search for other options," Sobeih told The Associated Press on Friday. The struggling talks have thrown into doubt hopes expressed by all sides at Annapolis that a final settlement could be reached by December 2008. Prince Saud, whose country is a close US ally, blamed Israel during a gathering of South American-Arab foreign ministers in Argentina on Thursday. "It's unbelievable that we keep blaming the weak party in the equation, which is the Palestinian people, with all the suffering they live under, while ignoring what Israel does by expanding settlements, tightening the siege, humiliating the Palestinians and carrying out a mass punishment against them," al-Faisal said.