Peace with the Arab world is possible for Israel if it makes peace with the Palestinians, Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir reaffirmed.
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has proposed Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for the Israel's total withdrawal from occupied Arab lands, a suggestion al-Jubeir said had been well received in the Arab press.
"It's a vision. It's a statement of a vision. And it was accepted by the overwhelming majority of leaders in the Arab world, including (Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat. It was received very, very positively in the Arab media." "The importance of it is it sends a signal to the Israeli public by telling them that peace with the broader Arab world is possible should they make peace with their neighbors," al-Jubeir told Fox News Sunday.
"It also sends a message to the peace camps in both Israel and the United States not to lose hope and that peace is possible and that we should re-energize our efforts to try to get there."
Al-Jubeir added the mechanisms for implementing peace would be based on two US-sponsored blueprints outlining security collaboration between the Israelis and Palestinians leading to a reduction of violence, a freeze on settlements and the implementation of agreements previously signed by the two sides.
He also said international observers should be brought in to separate the sides and allow leaders to sit and talk. Al-Jubeir said the plan guarantees Israel a real peace and real normalization with all its Arab neighbors, in return for a withdrawal to the 1967 borders in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Jerusalem Post daily reported Monday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has asked authorities in the United States to help arrange a meeting - public or secret - with Saudi officials to discuss Crown Prince Abdullah 's peace plan. Israel’s Channel 2 reported Sunday night that Sharon told the Americans that if the Saudis are serious, he is willing to allow Saudi officials to present the plan to him.
Henry Siegman, a senior fellow and director of the US/Middle East Project at the Council on Foreign Relations slammed Sharon for asking the Americans to set up a meeting with the Saudis, accusing the prime minister of making the offer because he knows the Saudis cannot accept it. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, he said "If Sharon was serious about the peace track, he should have immediately initiated an effort to ascertain how serious the plan is." "He's saying he would meet with them, which would mean for the Saudis normalizing relations now. Obviously the Saudis will never do that."
Siegman said the Saudi plan must be treated seriously, because the Saudis are going farther than what the Palestinians have been willing to accept.
"If we are dealing with a new process that can change the makeup of the Middle East, we cannot say no," Israel’s Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said after meeting with visiting US Senator Hillary Clinton. "We must first say yes and agree to listen."
"If Sharon is serious that he is ready to discuss the Saudi peace proposal, we believe this can start a reasonable political process," Arafat adviser Bassam Abu Sharif said. "But the Palestinians no longer trust Sharon after he broke his promise to lift the travel restrictions imposed on Arafat." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
