Israel shows new openness to Saudi peace plan

In Jordan, the Israeli prime minister said he was ready to discuss the Arab Peace Initiative with Mideast neighbors

from the May 16, 2007 edition

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PETRA, JORDAN - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed increased interest Tuesday in discussing a Saudi-authored initiative for reaching a comprehensive Middle East peace, inviting the leaders of Arab countries to come to Israel to talk more seriously about the proposal and alternatively offering his own willingness to meet them in any of theirs.

Mr. Olmert's statement of openness to the multinational Arab initiative came in response to pointed questions posed by author Elie Wiesel at a conference in Petra, Jordan, aimed at bringing together Nobel Prize winners and young peace activists in search of new salutations to the region's troubles. And although the meeting, now in its third year, is not usually not a headline-grabber, a flurry of diplomatic activity surrounding the statement suggests that at least some of the region's leaders may be getting a second wind for giving peace talks a fresh chance.

"We heard about the Arab Peace Initiative, and we say come and present it to us. You want to talk to us about it; we are ready to sit down and talk about it carefully," Olmert said. If invited elsewhere to discuss it, he said, "I'm ready to come."

Olmert also met with Jordanian King Abdullah II Tuesday in the port city of Aqaba to have discussions away from the current limelight in Petra, which boasts a complex of ancient Nabatean remains and a plethora of modern hotels. The two did not speak to the press, which has been full of speculative reports about a new initiative afoot, being proposed or at least promoted by the Bush administration.

However, according to the Associated Press, King Abdullah told Olmert during their meeting that Israel first had to take concrete steps to improve relations with the Palestinians. The king stressed that reports of new Israeli settlements and the expansion of existing ones stand in contradiction to Israel's quest for peace, said Amjad Adayleh, spokesman for the Jordanian Royal Palace.

Returning from a two-day trip to Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney met with the Jordanian king, and told reporters during his stopover in Shannon, Ireland, that the two had discussed the king's sense of urgency that something be done to reverse the stagnation in the peace process, which has largely been frozen since the September 2000 outbreak of the Al Aqsa intifada.

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