Israel now open to once-rejected Arab peace plan
The Saudi initiative calls for regional dialogue over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
from the March 14, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
"If we get [Saudi] support, they can apply pressure to all the countries that sponsor groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah," he says.
The road map, first introduced in 2002, focused on confidence building measures as a prerequisite for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks – fighting militants on the Palestinian side and dismantling unauthorized settlement outposts on the Israeli side – but the process has been mothballed as neither side met their commitment.
The Saudi initiative, by contrast, seeks agreement on a set of principles for Arab-Israeli peace as a jumping off point for regional negotiations.
Considering those principles represents a departure for Israel. It has traditionally preferred bilateral rather than multilateral talks because, analysts say, they fear having solutions imposed on them.
The plan is seen as highlighting Saudi Arabia's role as a regional counterweight to Iran's growing influence in the region. It also fills a vacuum of diplomacy at a time when the US influence in the Middle East has been constrained by growing violence in Iraq and little progress on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
"It reflects a burst of Saudi leadership such as we haven't seen," says Yossi Alpher, the coeditor of the online Middle East peace forum Bitterlemons.org. "It also reflects the failure of America's feeble efforts to deal with the Arab-Israeli peace process."
But analysts said it's unlikely that the Israelis and the Palestinians are capable of a peace deal in the near future because of Olmert's sagging approval ratings and internal strife among the Palestinians.
And yet, the Saudi initiative could potentially help Olmert find a new foreign policy direction after the Lebanon war destroyed plans to unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank. With its promise of a comprehensive Israeli-Arab peace, analysts also say the Saudi plan helps Olmert divert attention from Lebanon war fallout and corruption scandals.
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