Arab FMs: Saudi Initiative Remains Bases for Mideast Peace

13/07/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Initiative Offers Israel Normal Ties With Arab States in Return for Full Withdrawal From All Arab Lands it Occupied in 1967||Mahir, Moashar Meet 'Quartet' Tuesday in New York & July 18, Two Men Meet Faisal-Powell in Washington||'Other Mideast Initiatives Should be Close to Ours,' Sharaa|| STORY: Arab foreign ministers and senior officials meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo reaffirmed that a peace initiative approved in March by the 22-member organization remains their vision for a Middle East peace settlement. (Read photo caption)

"We are going to the next meeting with (only) the Arab initiative on our schedule. There is no new paper, no new document," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told AFP.

The initiative, based on Saudi proposals and adopted at a League summit in Beirut in March, offers Israel normal ties with Arab states in return for its full withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Egyptian minister was speaking following three-way talks with his Jordanian counterpart Marwan Moasher and Saudi Arabia's Prince Saud al-Faisal, on the sidelines of meetings of a committee to follow up the Arab initiative.

Maher and Moasher are to also meet Tuesday with representatives of the diplomatic Middle East "quartet" of the United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia.

They should then meet with Faisal and US Secretary of State Colin Powell on July 18 in Washington, according to a US official.

Faisal expressed hope the "next meeting of the quartet with representatives of the Arab states will result in an international position that will bring Israel to cease" aggressive policies towards the Palestinians.

Other ministers speaking with reporters after the meetings also stressed they believed in the Saudi initiative to end the 21 months of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians which has claimed more than 2,000 lives and badly exacerbated regional tensions.

"We are going to promote the Arab peace initiative, and any other initiative should be close to ours," Syria's foreign affairs minister, Faruq al-Shara, said.

Bush ignored the initiative in a June 24 policy speech on the Middle East, calling instead for reforms in the Palestinian Authority (PA), and demanding the Palestinians dump leader Yasser Arafat in exchange for US support for a Palestinian state.

The US president also said he would call on Israel to withdraw from re-occupied territories "as security improves," but declined to define exactly when the withdrawal should occur.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Bahrain along with representatives of the Palestinian Authority and Morocco, as well as Mussa, participated in the meeting of the Arab initiative committee.

The March summit called for aid of 55 million dollars a month, but the Palestinians have so far received only 90 million out of the 165 million dollars due to date, according to an Arab League report.

PHOTO CAPTIONS

Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa, left, puts on his glasses as his Saudi counterpart Saud al-Faisal looks on during the Arab foreign ministers meeting at the Arab League in Cairo, Egypt Friday, July 12, 2002. Eight Arab foreign ministers met for talks on the latest developments between Israel and Palestinians Friday. The Palestinian flag can be seen, center, and the Syrian flag at right. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)