Saudis call on Israel to accept Arab Peace Initiative

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said on Friday that the Arab Peace Initiative represents the best basis for any prospective peace plan between the Palestinians and the Israelis. He called on Israel to accept it, the Huffington Post has reported.

Speaking after a press conference in Paris, Al-Jubeir pointed out that the initiative includes all the ingredients needed for a final agreement to be reached. It is on the negotiating table, he said, expressing his hope that Israel is wise enough to accept it.

When the initiative was proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002 it was adopted by the Arab League at a summit in Beirut. The then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected it immediately, as have his successors. Current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he hopes that the Arab states accept his conditions for accepting it.

The initiative includes a peace deal between Israel and the Arab states and the establishment of “normal relations” in return for Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands occupied in 1967 and an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The participants in the Paris meeting announced their acceptance of the latest French proposal, which includes the coordination of peace efforts in the Middle East and working to hold an international conference on this issue before the end of the year. The French foreign minister, meanwhile, warned that the two-state solution is in “serious danger” and very close to a “no solution” situation.