Arab states to revive Mideast peace plan at summit without changes

Riyadh: Arab foreign ministers yesterday agreed to relaunch at their summit this week a five-year-old initiative for peace with Israel but without any of the alterations sought by the Jewish state.

"The Arabs have agreed to reactivate the Arab initiative without changes. We reiterated that all Arab nations will adhere to the initiative as it is," Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdullah Al Khatib said after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers here.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the plan would be presented to the United Nations and the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers for their endorsement.

The 2002 peace plan to be reendorsed at the March 28-29 summit by heads of state offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for full withdrawal from all land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Direct negotiations

A draft text of the resolutions obtained by Reuters reiterates a call "to all Israelis to accept the initiative and seize the current opportunity to return to the direct and serious negotiating process at all levels."

It calls for a "just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees" who fled their homes in 1948 and reiterates "the right of return of the Palestinian refugees in line ... with UN General Assembly Resolution 194."

Resolution 194, passed after the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation, says "refugees wishing to return to their homes ... should be permitted to do so, and ... compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return."

Most Arab states have backed the peace plan and Saudi Arabia is lobbying Hamas, which heads the Palestinian government, to back it.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was upbeat about the plan yesterday, telling reporters that "if moderate Arab countries will try to advance the process along the lines of the Saudi initiative, I would look at it as a very positive development."

But Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said: "There are clauses in the Saudi initiative that we do not agree with." He did not elaborate.