Taking the initiative

Cairo wants Israel to embrace the latest Arab initiative to jump-start the peace process, writes Nevine Khalil
Ahead of his visit to the US, President Hosni Mubarak this week consulted with a number of Arab leaders on the current situation in the Middle East. Preparing for talks with US President George W Bush, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice next week, Mubarak focused discussions on lifting the siege imposed on the Palestinians and their leaders, ending the bloodshed and getting the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table.
As various parties continue to put forth proposals to revive peace talks, the Saudi Arabian initiative attracted most of the attention this week. The initiative, recently proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, calls on
Arab states to recognise Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 war. Prince Abdullah floated the idea while in New York earlier this month, saying that he intended to propose the land-for-peace plan at the Arab summit at the end of this March. However, he subsequently indicated that he would not present the proposal at the Arab summit, citing as his reason Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's continuation of his vicious attacks against the Palestinians.
But the Saudi proposal was not scrapped altogether and may in fact serve as the basis for an Arab initiative to revive peace talks and end the 18-month Intifada. Lebanon, which will host the 27-28 March Arab summit,
welcomed the Saudi initiative as an item on the summit's agenda, according to sources there.
After a meeting between Mubarak and Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Nawaf Al-Saud on 19 February, Cairo welcomed the Saudi initiative. Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters that the Saudi ideas were "part of the efforts to promote the peace process."
Colin Powell described the Saudi proposal as "an important step," which he hoped would be developed further in the weeks ahead. Even Israeli President Moshe Katsav has offered to discuss the proposal with the crown prince, either in Jerusalem or Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi peace initiative was an item of discussion between
Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday, when the two leaders met in Cairo. After "exchanging views to reach a joint Arab perspective at this critical and dangerous stage," Mubarak and Abdullah urged Israel to "immediately lift the blockade on the Palestinian territories and free [Palestinian President Yasser] Arafat." Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to have signed peace agreements with Israel.
Minister of Information Safwat El-Sherif said in a statement after the meeting that both leaders "call on the government of Israel to respond positively with Arab initiatives in order to reach a comprehensive and just peace. These include the recent ideas proposed by Saudi Arabia which are based on United Nations resolutions and the land-for- peace formula." If Israel does not "withdraw from all occupied Arab lands as the ultimate basis for achieving peace, and the creation of an independent Palestinian state on all its land, then Israel will bear the responsibility of hindering [the achievement of] peace and causing instability in the region," said El-Sherif. During their meeting which lasted less than two hours, Mubarak and Abdullah also discussed the Arab summit, Abdullah's recent trip to the US and Mubarak's upcoming visit to Washington. Both Cairo and Amman had earlier denounced Tel Aviv's decision to prevent Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from leaving the West Bank
town of Ramallah, where he has been under virtual house arrest since 3 December.
Foreign Minister Maher had said on Sunday that Israel's decision to ease but not end Arafat's confinement contradicted its pledges. Failure to lift the blockade "is a continuation of the aggressive policy against the Palestinian people and its leadership, in an attempt to squander any progress that would allow for the resumption of political negotiations," said Maher.
Also on Tuesday, Mubarak sent a message to United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Zayed Al-Nahyan about the situation in the region. According to Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, who delivered the message, it broaches "alternatives for the es
tablishment of peace in the Middle East and halting the blood-baths and massacres in which the Palestinian people are the victims."
Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who also welcomed the Saudi initiative, spoke by telephone with Mubarak on Saturday. The phone call was a follow-up to a telephone conversation Mubarak had with Sharon on Thursday.
Mubarak also conversed with French President Jacques Chirac by telephone on Friday. Paris has recently described the current situation in the region as "very dangerous, approaching a situation of war." The presidents agreed that only a resumption of serious dialogue could resolve the conflict.
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