Palestinians consult with Saudis on peace initiative
Saudi Arabia-Palestine, Politics, 3/18/2002

The Monte Carlo radio correspondent in Amman said that Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt are embarking to draw a document including a simple formulation to the Saudi initiative which is based on the principle of land for peace.

Well-informed sources said that the Arab foreign ministers will discuss during their meeting in Beirut before the convening of the Arab summit the proposed document before they submit it in its final shape to the summit to be approved.

On the other hand, the founder of the Hamas movement Ahmad Yassin doubted the Saudi initiative. He said that Hamas will not accept the initiative tactically and refuses it strategically. He described any initiative to normalize relations with Israel as a catastrophe on the Arab citizens.

To this effect, the Palestinian official Mahmoud Abbas ( Abu Mazen) and Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian official in charge of planning and cooperation in the Palestinian authority, arrived in Riyadh on Saturday evening to discuss the ideas proposed by the Saudi crown prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz.

Both Shaath and Abu Mazen expressed hope to reach a formula that it makes it difficult for any side to refuse the initiative either Israel or certain Arab states.

A high ranking Palestinian official said that the Saudis so far do not have a complete detailed plan and that Abu Mazen and Shaath will discuss ideas with the crown prince Abdullah which will give a strong impetus to his ideas in order to reach means of guaranteeing the consent of all sides concerned to his initiative.

Previous Stories:
  Saudi Arabia accepts to introduce amendments to Abdullah's initiative   (3/8/2002)
  On the Saudi initiative   (3/5/2002)
  Fatah and the Saudi crown prince peace initiative with Israel   (2/23/2002)

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