Summary
Regional diplomacy is also coming to the fore elsewhere. An international gathering in Iraq to begin deeper discussions on what the region can do to ease that country's problems preceded Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's expressed interest in the Saudi initiative. In the plan, Mr. Olmert said he saw "positive elements" and said that he hoped the Arab League meeting in Riyadh on March 28 would reaffirm the group of nation's position on normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel.
"It reflects a burst of Saudi leadership such as we haven't seen," says Yossi Alpher, the coeditor of the online Middle East peace forum bitterlemons.org. "It also reflects the failure of America's feeble efforts to deal with the Arab-Israeli peace process.""The Syrian channel is blocked and talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are leading nowhere, and prompt yawns from the Israeli public," wrote "Haaretz" diplomatic correspondent Aluf Ben. "But if a proposal for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace goes out from Riyadh, especially if it is accompanied by summit meetings between Olmert and Arab leaders, it could broadcast a new hope to the public."See the full content of this document
Extract
Israel Now Open to Saudi Plan
TEL AVIV - A five-year-old Saudi Arabian regional peace plan appears to he displacing the U.S.'s dormant "road map" as the initiative to get Arabs and Israelis back to the table.
After initially rejecting the plan, which was adopted by the Arab League in 2002 and offers ...See the full content of this document
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