US discuss Saudi ideas on peace settlement with Israel
Saudi Arabia-USA, Politics, 2/23/2002

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday said US Ambassador William Burns, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and North African Affairs, was to meet yesterday with security advisor Abel Jubair, representative of Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdel Azziz of Saudi Arabia.

Boucher said "They are going to discuss the recent remarks by Crown Prince Abdullah and other developments in the region."

Asked about an undeclared Saudi proposal that states to give full normalizations to Arab - Israeli relations in return for Israel's implimentation of UN resolutions, Boucher said "We think these are significant and positive steps that have been endorsed now publicly by other governments in the region, including Egypt. They do highlight the importance of not giving up the goal of a just and lasting peace, and the need to do all we can to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

He added "Our commitment to Tenet and Mitchell, to the process of getting to those negotiations remains. And I'll reiterate today, as I have before, that the first step to get there is to end the violence, and that we have made absolutely clear that we think the burden at this point is on Chairman Arafat to take concrete steps to dismantle the groups that perpetrate violence and to end the violence so that we can start down that road that leads to a rebuilding of confidence and a restart of negotiations."

Asked if the Israelis should respond to this proposal, Boucher said "I think I tried to make it as clear as possible, it's a significant, it's a positive statement. It is a subject that's being discussed with, as I said, the Saudis, as well as many others in the region. Whether the Israelis want to respond or say more in public than they have already is up to them."

Boucher added "We have, for a long time, made clear that we felt it was important that all the countries in the region accept Israel. The President has made clear that part of his vision for the region is two states living side by side, and Israel living in secure borders, and a state called Palestine with it. So that has always been the policy of the United States."

Asked that this would mean that all of the territories and all of the borders would go back to June 6th, 1967, Boucher said "That was the Saudi statement, yes." He added "We agree with our policy that we've always said, and that's (UN resolusions) 242, 338, Land-for-Peace, negotiations; 242, 338, that's what we negotiate."

Previous Stories:
  Rumsfeld: our existence in Saudi Arabia will be amended, but not shortly   (2/21/2002)
  Arafat welcomes statements by Saudi crown prince on Israeli- Arab solution   (2/20/2002)
  Saudi Arabia would oppose a US attack on Iraq   (2/16/2002)

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