No. Here's why not.
Posted on 03/10/2002 4:20:23 AM PST by kattracks
SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt, Mar 10, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Saudi Arabia's foreign minister offered Israel "complete peace from Arab nations" in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands and the creation of an independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, speaking to reporters after meeting for an hour Sunday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, offered the most detailed Saudi comments on the kingdom's overture to Israel since it was first made public last month by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in a newspaper interview. Al-Faisal also is the highest-ranking Saudi to publicly address the initiative since then.
The push for peace has taken on great urgency in recent days as deaths in Palestinian-Israeli violence mount. But the Saudi initiative has been criticized by some Arabs, raising the possibility it will be altered before being formally presented to such an extent that the Israelis will reject it or deem it irrelevant.
Egypt and other influential Arab moderates have welcomed the Saudi proposal as at least a basis for peacemaking. Al-Faisal said his kingdom would formally present the proposal at an Arab summit in Beirut, Lebanon at the end of this month.
"Arab nations stress their intention to realize a lasting and comprehensive peace but at the same time Israel must show its good faith toward peace," al-Faisal said Sunday.
He called on Israel to withdraw from Arab territory captured in war and grant "the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, including the creation of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. If it does that it will be met with complete peace from Arab nations."
Al-Faisal said Abdullah and Mubarak have spoken at length on the initiative and both sides shared alarm at "Palestinian bloodshed."
During the past week, at least 114 Palestinians and 36 Israelis have died - the highest toll during any week since the conflict erupted. The week also saw the largest number of fatalities in a single day, 45 on Friday.
Al-Faisal did not elaborate on the peace initiative or say whether a written draft had been prepared or whether it referred to the sticky issue of Palestinian refugees.
Last week, Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said an emerging draft referred to U.N. resolution 194, which says Palestinian refugees should be allowed to return to their homes or receive compensation for their losses. The refugee question has derailed previous peace efforts because Israel fears the return of Palestinians to what is now Israel would destroy the state's Jewish character.
Al-Faisal did not answer directly when asked whether the Saudi peace proposal would be submitted if the Israelis kept Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat from attending the Beirut summit, but strongly indicated it would, saying the plan "is for the benefit of Palestine."
Palestinian officials have said the Saudis told them that the peace initiative would be presented at the Arab summit only if Arafat was there. Arafat has been confined to the West Bank town of Ramallah since December, and Israel has said it would lift the travel ban only if Arafat tries to curb attacks by Palestinian militants on Israeli civilians.
The Saudi initiative has won the support of heavyweight Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan and Syria, though Syria has said the refugee issue must be addressed. At an Arab League foreign minister's meeting Saturday in Cairo, Libya criticized the proposals, calling on Arabs to increase support for the Palestinian uprising.
"I think those who were betting on the possibility of a solution with Israel have failed," Libyan diplomat Ali Abd al-Salam al-Turiki said Sunday in Cairo. "There is no possibility for such a solution. There is ongoing war. We have to take practical measures."
Al-Turiki said a boycott of Israel could be among the measures taken. Arab attempts to revive economic campaigns against Israel have faltered in recent years as moderate Arabs states, including some in the Gulf, opened low-level trade ties with Israel.
Amid the disagreements, the Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo was wrapping up Sunday without a formal statement on the Saudi initiative, according to Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa. Al-Sharaa said no initiative would come out of the Arab summit "that Syria has reservations about."
Israel has shown interest in the Saudi initiative, though it rejects any full withdrawal from territories it seized in the 1967 Mideast war. The United States has called the ideas positive. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is to discuss them when he comes to the region this week.
By HAMZA HENDAWI Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Saudi Arabia has no moral standing to promote a peace plan for the Middle East, according to former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He said Saudi Arabia is the world center of extreme Islam and is responsible for funding much of world terrorism.
Speaking at the "Media Accuracy and the Middle East" conference in honor of former Jerusalem Post editor David Bar-Illan, Netanyahu said the Saudi plan was a "reheated old recipe" to return Israel to the 1967 borders and allow for the establishment of "an Arafatian state."
Jerusalem Post editor Jeff Barak presented the College of Judea and Samaria with a NIS 50,000 check from the Post funds in honor of Bar-Illan.
The Jerusalem Post
No. Here's why not.
Could it be that it's because the terrorists in the occupied terrritories are being defeated and because our war on terrorism is prohibiting anyone from coming to their defense? Is this desperation?
Wouldn't it make sense to offer the deal to the Jews themselves?
If the prince can't bear to talk to a real Jew now, why will he later?
What would you do with a three dollar bill and a Saudi promise?
How would peace with Saudia be any different than war with Saudia? Do you think they'll allow a synagogue?
Why not offer G-d's borders? From the meditteranean to the Nahar Pras?
Why give them something they never had, and take it away from the people who have it now? That's a great idea for peace!
ML/NJ
Nothing would make Saddam and al-Queda more happy. Israel would either be forced to compromise for their destruction in a few years or the place would go nuclear (from both sides). Then as al-Queda spreads around the world, energized from our retreat. We can build a massive missile shield on our border with the People's Republic of Mexico, deal with Hispanic suicide bombers and know exactly what Israel must have felt like.
I Thess 5:3 "For when they shall say, Peace and Safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
They should be so lucky.......
The only "complete" peace is death.
And the PLO and Hamas and the rest of the murderous crew are not "Arab nations", so the offer is bootless: it offers nothing in exchange for all.
--Boris
Very simple. As foolish and self-destructive as Israel has lately become, it will never give up Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, period. Go ask the Almighty.
And a Palestinian state already exists: it is called Jordan, and it--and only it--is the true "Palestinian homeland."
Other than that, no problem at all.
--Boris
The biggest problem is that that's not what the Palestinians want, and so Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, Fatah, Al-Aqsa, etc. will keep going on their merry jihad way no matter what "peace" agreement the Saudis cook up. They will always have some beef against Israel, no matter what she gives up. They are passionate about killing Jews, not a Palestinian state.
Arab moderates ... Arab moderates ... Arab moderates ...
Where have they been denouncing the sep 11 attack?
Arab moderates ...
Isn't this a contradiction in terms? An oxymoron?
After all they are not opposed to JIHAD, are they?
No, I think the Saudi oil fields need new management.
Been there, done that
By Jerusalem, I assume you refer not only refer to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Temple Mount mosques, and the Armenian quarter, but it is Jerusalem in its entirety, entirety, entirety...The British Mandate administration stated as early as 1929 that the Western Wall is the Al-Buraq Wall and that it is considered a Muslim religious endowment (waqf) to which Palestinians hold historic rights.
Yasser Arafat
They offered that very thing to Arafat and he turned it down. Now if so, why? Why should Israel offer part of it's capital to another group of people who have demonstrated their enmity with Israel? Why would anybody in their right mind demand that it does? For promises of Peace?! Why accept promises of peace from mass murders unless you are suicidal?
The Palestinians were given land that they promised never to launch an attack from. How good is it working? So now they want more land that they promise they will never launch an attack from. Yeah. That dog don't hunt.
Let the Jews take them. Bet the price of oil drops like a rock. At least to the Americans. The Jews are the only nation that consistantly votes with America in the UN. Nobody else has a better record. They get Saudi, we get Iraq and Syria. Let Turkey have Iran. We would make good neighbors. Egypt can go procreate with itself.
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