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Saudi Arabia offers ``complete peace'' to Israel
AP | 3/10/02 | HAMZA HENDAWI

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



TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: michaeldobbs
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To: cardinal4
The Muslim movement is organized crime under the banner of religion. The only thing Israel will get from this is death. And I guess old Vicente Fox and GW are about to agree on a right of return for illegals and their families. Lucky us. Our own little Intifada in a few years. Thank you very much.
61 posted on 03/10/2002 8:26:41 AM PST by willyone
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To: bribriagain
So what's your solution? More killings?

Middle East Peace Plan:

1.Afrafat must die immediately, to take away the only leader these subhumans have who isn't Bin Laden Jr.
Arafats replacement will be a doozy, totally unacceptable to the West.

2.Overthrow the Governments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

3. Expel the subhuman arabs taking up space in the "occupied territories" to Jordan and Egypt.

4.Hit Taliban holdouts with a couple of tactical nukes, we nuked the Japs and THEY LOVE US OVER THERE.

62 posted on 03/10/2002 8:34:10 AM PST by Rome2000
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To: Rome2000

these subhumans ...Expel the subhuman arabs...

Spoken like a true devotee of Hitler. You forgot to shout "Sieg Heil!!"

63 posted on 03/10/2002 8:57:23 AM PST by Zviadist
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To: evad
Right on. Would America be willing under such duress, to agree to give up Washington, D.C. (the seat of power)? And D.C. does not come anywhere near in significance to what Jerusalem is to Israel. NO, and no, there is a Greater One in all of this mess and He gave the land to the children of Israel and so it will always be. A false peace accord will come, but in the end, Israel will be sovereignly inhabited forever by Israelis and all who would join themselves in true peace.
64 posted on 03/10/2002 9:08:24 AM PST by Hila
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To: Diogenesis
There will only be peace if the Palestinians are expelled from Israel. Maybe the Arabs should take the Palestinians (Phillistines) in for total peace...
65 posted on 03/10/2002 9:16:43 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood
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To: evad
Right. If America would be in those shoes, would she agree to give up Washington, D.C. (seat of power)? And D.C. does not touch what Jerusalem means to Israel. Jerusalem is the City of the Great King, and that King is totally against false moon-semigods. Whatever the Arabs have to say, they canot be trusted and besides, it is not up to them to offer anything. Israel's land was given to them by a higher authority than all the political leaders in this world, it will remain their land. A fake peace accord may exist for a while, but then after the dust settles, Israel will be inhabited forever by Israelis and those who will join themselves in true peace.
66 posted on 03/10/2002 9:20:56 AM PST by Hila
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To: a_witness
That foreign minister is just that: foreign to this issue, which is Yahweh's matter. There may be war, false peace accord, etc. but when all is done Israel is for the children of Israel and we all shall see it.
67 posted on 03/10/2002 9:33:53 AM PST by Hila
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To: a_witness
Exactly, the foreign minister is truly foreign to this issue. The land of Israel was given to the children of Israel and so it shall be at the end. The truly sad part is to see our American leadership not siding with Israel who is YAHWEH's.
68 posted on 03/10/2002 9:36:27 AM PST by Hila
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To: kattracks
Yeah, the peace of the grave...
69 posted on 03/10/2002 9:43:42 AM PST by pankot
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To: Savage Beast
What's the problem with establishing a Palestinian state with a divided Jerusalem as the capital of both Palestine and Israel?

What's wrong with a "Palestinian" "state"?
See my post below.

Jerusalem is the City of David - not Muhammad. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Period.

70 posted on 03/10/2002 9:50:51 AM PST by ppaul
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To: American in Israel
Give these goons a state?

Yeah.
Right.



Ambassadors of the Religion of Peace

``We must educate our children on the love of holy war for the sake of God and the love of fighting for the sake of God,''
- Sheik Mohammed Ibrahim al-Madhi said in a mosque sermon broadcast on state-controlled Palestinian TV last month.

Islamic Jihad is running a summer school - to teach boys the benefits of becoming suicide bombers.


71 posted on 03/10/2002 9:52:59 AM PST by ppaul
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To: American in Israel

Remember when you were a little kid and the bully at school would beat you up for your lunch money promising if you give it to him he will stop pounding you. Did it work?


72 posted on 03/10/2002 10:13:20 AM PST by vannrox
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To: kattracks
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

What a load of crap. Israel has showed nothing but good faith for peace. It's up to the Arab nations to just do it.

And Jerusalem is off the table. It's 80% Jewish. Between the residents of Jerusalem and the high concentration of Jewish settlers near Jerusalem, the Arabs are asking for 600,000 Jews - 10% of the Israeli population - to either move or change their citizenship to that of Palestinian for peace. Such a proposal is doomed.

73 posted on 03/10/2002 10:27:15 AM PST by monkeyshine
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Comment #74 Removed by Moderator

To: kattracks
Complete Peace= The Peace of the Grave
75 posted on 03/10/2002 11:24:49 AM PST by Kozak
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To: kattracks
How many times will they sell the same camel?

Maybe if they showed they were capeable of giving peace, the Israelis would react more favorably.

76 posted on 03/10/2002 11:25:48 AM PST by JAWs
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To: Savage Beast
"What's the problem with establishing a Palestinian state with a divided Jerusalem as the capital of both Palestine and Israel?"

Lots

77 posted on 03/10/2002 11:30:18 AM PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: T. P. Pole
"Don't they consider all of what is Israel to be Arab lands?"

Yes. They will not be happy until Israel is pushed into the sea.

Carolyn

78 posted on 03/10/2002 11:52:28 AM PST by CDHart
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To: KJMorgan
The only complete peace in this world is in the grave. I suspect that's what the lying scum are really offering.

I'm sure you're right about that. I can just see the Arabs laughing their heads off in private:

"Peace? We'll give them peace! Hahahahaha!"


79 posted on 03/10/2002 11:59:17 AM PST by mrustow
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To: Savage Beast
no, they will not. never.
80 posted on 03/10/2002 12:28:53 PM PST by recalcitrant
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