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Saudi
Initiative: Definite Possibilities for
the Middle East peace |
Posted By Liam Bailey
There is a positive buzz in the media
at the moment about a revival of the
2002 Saudi initiative for Middle East
peace. At first Israel seemed
dismissive of the revival based on an
initiative it has previously rejected,
suggesting the initiative be amended
slightly. This brought calls from
prominent Arabs for Israel not to miss
"a historic opportunity." As
the revival of the initiative becomes
more official and the U.S. gets on
board, of course bringing Israel with,
it seems that the Arabs may be the
obstacle to their own prospects of
bringing peace to this long conflict
torn region.
Israel's main problem with the
initiative is its incorporation of
U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194,
stipulating that all Palestinian
refugees that want to return to their
homes be allowed to do so and those
who don't are compensated accordingly.
Not only is this impossible for Israel
because it would end their status as a
Jewish state once and for all, but it
is also impractical because most,
maybe all of the homes and/or plots
owned or inhabited by the expelled
Palestinians no longer exist. This
makes the Palestinians clinging to it
an obstacle to their endeavours for
peace. Not to mention the fact that
many of the refugees have left the
camps and made lives for themselves
making it an obstacle worth toppling.
This problem with the initiative is
the reason Israel has outright ignored
its validity for five years. This is a
shame because the initiative offers
Israel a lot in return for the right
of return as mentioned above, a full
withdrawal from Palestinian
territories occupied after the 1967
war and the creation of a Palestinian
state. It offers the recognition of
the state of Israel, full peace and
normalized relations between all the
Arab League member states and Israel.
Normalization of relations with Israel
was a taboo in the Arab world, for all
states in the Arab League to ratify
the initiative in 2002 was "a
political revolution" as it was
called in the Jerusalem Post earlier
this year. The initiative was ratified
again last year and all states have
confirmed their continued committment
to the initiative recently. Therefore
the offer still stands. A political
revolution in the Arab world at a time
when Iran is gaining power in the
region is an offer Israel really can't
afford to sniff at.
That is why there has been a shift in
Israeli attitudes recently, as the
political momentum builds behind the
revitalization of the initiative,
which has reawakened support for it in
the Arab world and picked up the
support of the U.S.. Israeli
politicians have recently been making
statements to the effect that the
initiative would warrant serious
consideration were it slightly
modified. Olmert said: "If
moderate Arab countries try to advance
the process along the lines of the
Saudi initiative I will look at it as
a very positive development". The
Israelis expected the initiative to be
changed so that the right of return
allows refugees only to return to the
new Palestinian state, not Israel.
Apparently there has been a lot of
manoeuvrings behind the scenes between
Israel, the Saudi monarchy and the
Arab league, as Saudi's monarchy
attempts to have such modifications
made.
Unfortunately they failed, the Arab
league is to revive the initiative in
its original form. Jordan's foreign
minister Abdelelah al-Khatib told
Reuters after a meeting of Arab
foreign ministers in the Saudi
capital: "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." This is
understandable as it was not easy to
have all the Arab states agree in the
first place. To have them agree to
less in return for the major
concessions they are offering would
have been understandably even more
difficult, especially from those
states who have nowhere near
normalized relations with Israel, such
as Syria and Lebanon. In this lies the
obstacle, Israel cannot and will not
accept the initiative in its original
wording, therein requesting full right
of return, in which case it is lucky
that the initiative is being released
in its original wording, but not in
its original presentation.
The Saudi initiative was presented
first in 2002 as an ultimatum, take it
or leave it. Now, they are following
suggestions and it is being presented
as a platform for negotiations. Hence
the positive buzz in the media. There
is talk of representatives fom all the
parties with a vested interest in the
conflict being in the same room for
the first time. That is Israel, all
the Arab League member states (or one
representative speaking on their
behalf), and the Quartet: Russia, U.S.
U.N. and E.U.. Olmert said of the
proposed meeting: "If such an
invitation would come my way, I would
look at it in a very positive
way," Olmert told a joint press
conference with UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon. "Assuming I would
get a visa, I would not hesitate to
participate." Condoleeza Rice,
currently on a Middle East tour
promoting and trying to achieve a
restart to the peace process said:
"it was "premature" to
talk about a major conference
involving the Quartet, moderate Arabs,
Israelis and Palestinians." Other
U.S. officials confirmed the idea was
under consideration.
Representatives from all those
countries meeting, in the current
climate, whereby the desire to unite
in the face of a common enemy --Iran--
should give them more reason than ever
before to find an agreement. Any
agreement reached in that room at that
historic time would be the most likely
agreement to be adhered to by all
parties in the history of the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
*Liam
Bailey is a U.K. freelance journalist
and publisher of the War
Pages blog. You can contact him by
E-mail.
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