JORDAN: Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt confer on regional issues in Amman ahead of Arab League meeting

Pro-U.S. allies Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt said on Wednesday (March 14) they will seek to give a new push to an Arab peace plan with Israel aimed at ending decades of conflict when they hold an Arab League summit this month. A palace statement said King Abdullah told Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Saud al-Faisal, Egypt's Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Jordan's Abdelelah al-Khatib in Amman that the March 28-29 summit in Riyadh should bring a consensus on backing the 2002 plan. The statement quoted the monarch as saying Arab states should unify their positions, especially regarding giving new impetus to the Arab peace initiative. He was referring to a 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut that adopted a Saudi initiative offering Israel normal ties with Arab countries in return for full withdrawal from land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. Following the meeting with King Abdullah, the three foreign ministers held talks at the foreign ministry in Amman. The Amman talks are the first high-level talks by members of the so-called "Arab Quartet", that also includes the United Arab Emirates, to coordinate positions on peace and other regional developments ahead of the Riyadh summit. "This visit is a chance to discuss the Arab summit, and the need to prepare for it well, and to forge a united Arab stance regarding all the Arab issues that will be discussed at the summit meeting, in order to come out with a united Arab position regarding these issues, and they include supporting the Palestinian position, supporting the stability and unity of Iraq and also the unity and sovereignty of Lebanon," al-Khatib told journalists following the three-way meeting. Saudi Arabia criticised Israel on Tuesday (March 13) for setting preconditions to Middle East peace talks and urged it to accept the 2002 Arab initiative and discuss details later. Israel has said it cannot accept some terms in the proposal, including the total withdrawal from territory captured in 1967 and the return of Palestinian refugees to what is now the Jewish state. Jordanian officials privately say the Arab Quartet wants to show Washington the seriousness of their quest for peace with Israel in return for a stronger commitment by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to a two-state solution by 2008. Rice is expected to visit the region ahead of the summit to prod Arab allies on presenting strong peace overtures towards Israel. They will tell her that their plan offers the best blueprint for a lasting settlement. Rice last visited the region in February for a three-way summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The meeting ended with a vague promise on a commitment to a two-state solution in which a Palestinian state could exist alongside Israel.

ITN Source | March 15, 2007

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