Arab League to name Israel contact group

Cairo: Arab foreign ministers met at the Arab League on Wednesday to name the countries that will make contact with Israel to explain an Arab peace plan offering normal relations in return for land seized in 1967.

The Arab League committee of 13 countries will set up three or four working groups to tour the world and promote the peace plan, which Arab governments tried to relaunch at a summit meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh last month, diplomats said.

In Jerusalem Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that in addition to talks through the Arab League working group the United States may organise a regional summit which could include delegates from Saudi Arabia.

"There is American consideration on a meeting," Olmert was quoted on the Haaretz newspaper web site as telling a key parliamentary committee during closed-door testimony.

The Saudis have refused to take part in a regional conference before Israel agrees to an Arab peace initiative which dates back to 2002, when Arab government unanimously
offered normal relations with Israel for the first time.

Diplomats at the Arab League meeting said one of the working groups will have a mandate to talk to Israel but it is unlikely the ministers will choose for this task countries which do not already have relations with Israel, they added.

Out of the 13 Arab League members on the committee, only Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have routine diplomatic contacts with the Jewish state.

Egypt and the Arab League have dismissed speculation the working group will negotiate details of the peace plan with Israel, saying that is up to Arab governments which have
territorial claims -- Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians.

The other working groups will contact the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and others, he added.

Under US pressure, Olmert signalled this week that Israel would be prepared to take part in talks with the working group, which was expected to be limited to countries like Egypt and Jordan that already have signed peace deals with Israel.