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Talking Peace in the Middle East

Olmert Proposes Regional Conference with Arab Leaders

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called for a regional conference to discuss peace in the Middle East -- and he wants Saudi Arabia to take the lead.

The Middle East seems to be heading for yet another round of peace talks and initiatives. The new factor in the equation? Israel is proposing that Saudi Arabia take the lead.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has responded to the latest Arab peace initiative by calling for a regional conference. Arab leaders met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last week and urged Israel to accept a peace plan that was originally proposed in 2002.

Olmert's dramatic response came on Sunday during a news conference with the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Israeli premier said that he would like to "invite to a meeting all Arab heads of state, including, of course, the king of Saudi Arabia, whom I regard as an important leader, in order to engage in dialogue."

The Arab peace initiative offers the normalization of relations with Israel in return for a pullout from lands occupied since 1967 and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees. Israel rejected that offer out of hand in 2002. But now Olmert has changed the tone, saying that each side could bring its demands to the table and neither should dictate terms.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Olmert should agree to the Arab peace initiative. "It would pave the way to many conferences, not one," he said. But Israel still has fundamental problems with the proposal, particularly with the return of Palestinian refugees to properties now inside Israel.

And Olmert did seem to qualify his offer to meet all Arab leaders, by emphasizing that he wanted to meet with moderate leaders. "If the Saudi king initiates a meeting of moderate Arab states," he said, "and invites me and the head of the Palestinian Authority in order to present us the Saudi ideas, we will come to hear them and we will be glad to voice ours."

Saudi Arabia asked to take the lead

It is the first time that Israel has called on Saudi Arabia -- a country with which it has no formal ties -- to take the lead. Olmert appeared to pave the way for this new approach last week. In an interview with Time magazine, he said "I can tell you that if I'd had an opportunity to meet with King Abdullah of the Saudis -- which I have not -- he would be very surprised to hear what I have to say." Olmert added: "I look very favorably at the active role Saudis are now playing in the Middle East for many years."

This change of heart seems to have come partly as a result of pressure from the United States and Egypt. The two countries have been urging Israel to agree to talks with a committee of moderate Arab states, which would act collectively in dealing with Jerusalem. And the presence of Hamas in the new Palestinian unity government has all but put on ice prospects of any bilateral agreement.

During a visit to the region last week the US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice did manage to persuade Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet biweekly. However, the ongoing refusal of Hamas to recognize Israel or renounce violence means that these talks are not expected to bear much fruit. Jerusalem is now on the look-out for new peace partners.

A message for Syria

Olmert asked another visitor to Israel this weekend, the Leader of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to pass on a message to Syria when she visits Damascus this week. "Pelosi is conveying that Israel would be interested in making peace, if they (Syria) would openly take steps to stop supporting terrorism," Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.

And at the news conference with Merkel, Olmert emphasized that Israel had no intention of launching an offensive against Syria -- an apparent response to intelligence reports that Syria believes it is at risk of attack. "Israel is not planning any attack, does not want to attack," he said. "I hope no one jumps to the wrong conclusion, makes a miscalculation, because of claims which have no basis in reality."

Olmert also dismissed rumors that Israel planned to be part of a co-ordinated offensive this year in which the US would attack Iran while Israel would hit Syria and Lebanon. "It is a false rumor, without any basis," he said.

smd/ap/reuters