Saudi prince's peace proposal takes root

By PHIL REEVES

MugCaption1: Crown Prince Abdullah

Body1: Few news stories have made a more modest start to life.

The proposal by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah for breaking the Israel-Palestinian impasse surfaced not on the front page of the New York Times, but deep inside in the editorial columns.

It was born 10 days ago and had the guarded and almost quaint headline, "An Intriguing Signal from the Saudi Crown Prince".

Until this week, the world's media steered clear.

True, Abdullah is one of the heavyweights of the Arab world whose views make a serious impact in the Middle East and Washington.

But the story was overshadowed by the worsening violence on the ground, the lack of any reason to justify even a glimmer of optimism, and the absence of a clear response from the key mediators, the Americans. Yet the idea has survived and taken root, becoming the first diplomatic development with any potential - albeit slight - for months.

From Riyadh, Thomas Friedman, a veteran Middle East commentator, said in his column that he took the opportunity of a dinner with Abdullah, Saudi's de facto ruler, to put forward a suggestion.

He did not categorically identify where the idea came from, although he had raised it in an article this month. There are bound, in the conspiracy-minded Middle East, to be those who now suggest that its origins lie inside the United States State Department.

Why don't the 22 members of the Arab League make a "simple, clear-cut" proposal to Israel, asked Friedman? In return for total withdrawal by Israel from the territories it occupied after June 4, 1967, and the establishment of a Palestinian state, the league should offer Israel full diplomatic relations, normalised trade and security guarantees.

Abdullah looked at him in "mock astonishment", he says, and asked if he had broken into his desk. It was, the Saudi leader said, "exactly the idea he had in mind", and he had even been thinking of giving a speech on the subject before the Arab League meets in Beirut on March 27, to "mobilise the entire Arab world behind it".

He said he changed his mind after Israel escalated the violence to an unprecedented level.

"I wanted to find a way to make it clear to the Israeli people that the Arabs don't reject or despise them," Abdullah said, "but the Arab people do reject what their leadership is now doing to the Palestinians, which is inhumane and oppressive.

"I thought of this as a possible signal to the Israeli people."

Now, Abdullah's proposal is officially in place and clinging to life. How long it will survive in this ruthless climate is another matter.

The plan yesterday drew praise from US President George W. Bush for its vision of Israeli-Arab normalisation.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana cut short a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories and planned to go to Saudi Arabia today to discuss it.

Solana said yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was interested in the initiative and was ready to meet Saudi officials to discuss details.

Sharon "would be ready to meet anybody from Saudi Arabia, formally, informally, publicly, discreetly, whatever, to get better information about this initiative", Solana said after meeting the Israeli leader.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he "appreciated and supported completely" Abdullah's efforts.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush praised the ideas in a conversation with Abdullah, noting that normalisation would follow agreement on "a comprehensive peace agreement".

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS

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