Brussels, 28/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The ideas put forward by the Saudi Crown Prince to rekindle the peace process in the Middle East were at the centre of the High Representative for Cfsp, Javier Solana's rounds of the Middle East. On Friday the High Representative is to meet King Abdallah of Jordan, in Amman, following his meeting, on Thursday, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Wednesday with Crown Prince Abdallah of Saudi Arabia, and Tuesday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
In an interview with the New York Times, of 17 February, Prince Abdallah had proposed normalising relations between Israel and Arab countries, in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from the territories occupied since 1967 (see EUROPE of 22 February, p.3). According to Javier Solana, these proposals are worth something, especially as "messenger", Saudi Arabia having so far been one of the most ardent opponents of normalising Israeli-Arab relations. "I believe that it is a very serious message and that it is a message put forward by a very important "messenger, which provides hope", Solana told the press in Jerusalem. He said that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had already said he was prepared to meet Saudi leaders, and that he wanted "more details on the Saudi proposal". At the end of his trip, organised at the last minute, to Saudi Arabia, Javier Solana declared that Prince Abdallah "was firmly decided to push forward with his ideas, that could, according to him, bring peace to the region", and that the Prince expected his ideas to be approved at the Summit of the Arab League, in Beirut on 27 and 28 March.
The Saudi ideas were also raised at the EU/Gulf Co-operation Council ministerial meeting, in Grenada on Thursday and Friday. These proposals are "very attractive" and "it is essential that we deepen them", declared Spanish Foreign Minister and President of the EU Council, Josep Piqué, on that occasion. He went on to stipulate that the Israelis and Palestinians must first agree to a cease-fire and that the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, confined to Ramallah by the Israeli authorities, should regain his freedom of movement (see EUROPE of 25 and 26 February, p.6).
Speaking on behalf of the EU in a debate on the Middle East in the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Spanish Ambassador Inocencio Arias, declared that "the two sides must adopt urgent measures to restore calm and return to negotiations to resolve a conflict that has no military solution". "Each side must assume its responsibilities and act immediately and firmly", he added. Here he welcomed the arrest by the Palestinian Authority of the alleged killers of the Israeli Minister for Tourism, Rehevam Zehevi.
Yasser Arafat, for his part, declared "fully supporting" the Saudi efforts. The Jordanian Ambassador to the UN, Prince Zeid ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, declared in New York that his delegation "welcomes the latest declarations of the Saudi Crown Prince". Most Arab countries, however, have been more circumspect in the way they have greeted the Saudi proposals. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak played down somewhat the novelty of this initiative, recalling, in an interview with the daily Al-Akhbar, published before his meeting with Javier Solana, that it took up the "strategic choice" of Arab countries and the principle of "land for peace", at the centre of Israeli-Arab talks since 1991. The Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Mikhail Wehbe, for his part, declared that the peace process required political will by Israel and not new initiatives.