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Israelis Now Say Saudi Peace Plan Isn't So Bad After All
By Steven Erlanger
International Herald Tribune
March 12, 2007Israeli officials, pressed by Washington, are suddenly finding much to praise in a Saudi peace proposal that was dismissed when it was offered in 2002, at the height of a series of Palestinian suicide bombings. In the last two days, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have both spoken of "positive" elements in the Saudi initiative, which is expected to receive a new endorsement from the Arab League at its summit meeting in Riyadh on March 28. The initiative is really a set of principles, but it offers Israel full recognition and permanent peace with the Arab states in return for a withdrawal to 1967 lines, the establishment of an independent Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and "an agreed, just solution" to the refugee issue in accordance with a 1948 United Nations Resolution 194. Israel has a variety of problems with the initiative, especially on the refugee issue, but the Saudi plan is being used by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a way to give important Arab regional support to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and his discussions with Olmert.
The support of those relatively moderate Arab states is also intended to undermine the standing of Hamas, which is supported by Syria and non-Arab Iran and refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist. No one is expecting a solution, but Rice, who is said to be arriving in the region for consultations late next week before the Riyadh meeting, is apparently convinced that international support for a two-state solution and for a "political horizon" - describing the rough outlines of a settlement - will make it easier for Israelis and Palestinians to make the difficult compromises necessary to get there. On Sunday, just before he met with Abbas, Olmert talked of the "positive elements" in the Saudi plan and told his cabinet: "We sincerely hope that at the summit of the Arab leaders in Riyadh the positive element in the Saudi initiative will be emphasized and would maybe allow an opportunity to strengthen the chances for negotiations with the Palestinians on its basis."
Livni, in Washington on Monday at a conference of the lobbying group Aipac, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, also spoke of "positive elements" in the Saudi plan, but said on Israel Radio that "some of its clauses are contrary to the principle of two states." Beyond the notion of a complete Israeli withdrawal to 1967 lines, she said she was concerned by the refugee question; she said she believed that all Palestinian refugees and their families should return to a new state of Palestine, just as Jewish refugees and exiles have the right to return to Israel, but not necessarily to their old homes. Like many Israelis, she said, she was afraid that even a symbolic "right of return" would mean a dilution of the idea of Israel as a Jewish state and would reduce the Jewish majority in Israel. Still, as supported by the Arab League in Beirut, the initiative is vague, and most of Resolution 194 has been ignored by all parties. There is room, in other words, for negotiation.
But if Israel accepted the Saudi initiative even as a basis for negotiations, Aluf Benn, a political correspondent for Haaretz, suggested in the newspaper on Monday, "it will be taking a huge step toward the end of its control over the territories." Defense Minister Amir Peretz of Israel is also in Washington, scheduled to meet Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday. Peretz, in an interview before he left Israel, said he would press for better United Nations monitoring of arms smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese government has never asked UN forces to help it to monitor the largely unmarked border with Syria, as Israel expected when it agreed to the UN resolution that ended the summer war. Peretz will also discuss weapons sales. His meeting will crown a renewed relationship with the Pentagon, which was damaged by Israel's unauthorized weapons sales to China and accusations that Israel used thousands of U.S. anti- personnel weapons in Lebanon - a violation of a deal with Washington. Separately, in Gaza, there were reports that the BBC correspondent there, Alan Johnston, was forced from his car and kidnapped Monday. The Palestinian interior minister, Said Siam of Hamas, described the kidnapping as a "criminal act" and said the security services would "pursue the criminals and bring them to justice."
At the same time, Fatah security forces declared a state of emergency and set up checkpoints in the streets to look for Johnston, a British citizen. The BBC had no immediate comment on the kidnapping. Johnston has worked in the Balkans and the Middle East.
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