Olmert invites Arab leaders to talks on 'land for peace'
As I pointed out previously, Olmert will find it very hard to ignore the peace deal offered by Saudi Arabia because of the relationship King Abdullah enjoys with Washington. It is because of this that he has so publicly welcomed the initiative whilst sending anonymous spokespersons to warn of a Palestinian military build up in Gaza.
Yesterday, he went further, offering a meeting with King Abdullah to discuss the new peace plan.
"I invite for [sic] a meeting all the heads of Arab states, including... the king of Saudi Arabia, who I see as a very important leader, to hold talks with us."Israel has also stated that it does not favour international forums as a way of solving this dispute as it much prefers direct negotiations with the Palestinians as a way of solving this dispute.
Mr Olmert said Israel and the Arab states would not necessarily be saying the "same thing" to each other.
But he added that "moderate Arab states led by Saudi Arabia" want to be involved actively in efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace. "I think the readiness to accept Israel as a fact and to debate the terms of a future solution is a step that I cannot help but appreciate," he added.
Earlier yesterday, the Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had reacted cautiously to the proposals from Egypt, reportedly backed by the US, for early talks with a committee set up by the Arab League to promote its Riyadh declaration.
While extending a general, if heavily qualified, welcome to the initiative Israel has also lost no time in stating its rejection of elements of the declaration. Mr Olmert indicated he would reject any compromise on Israel's refusal to accept any of the refugees who fled their homes in 1948.
That's a simply extraordinary statement as Olmert has long made clear that his actual preferred solution is a unilateral one and he has gone to great lengths to avoid ever having to negotiate with the Palestinians, finding every excuse under the sun not to do so. For him now to say he prefers talking to them face to face rather than to an Arab delegation can only mean that he thinks the Palestinians will be in a weaker position to negotiate than the delegation would be.
And one wonders how Olmert is able to meet with King Abdullah, who does not recognise Israel, and yet he refuses to meet with Hamas, citing that very reason for his refusal. It's hardly a consistent stance.
But these are quibbles. Olmert should meet with the Arab delegation and he should attempt to come to a solution although Olmert's political weakness following the Lebanon war may prove his undoing according to the Israeli press.
An opinion poll in Haaretz newspaper yesterday showed that of the 62 per cent of Israelis who had heard about the Saudi initiative, 58 per cent supported responding to it, while 38 per cent were opposed. As significant, however, 72 per cent believed that Mr Olmert, who faces unusually low personal ratings for an Israeli Prime Minister, did not have the public support to negotiate a final status settlement with the Palestinians.I really hope that Israel grasps the nettle here and accepts a solution that sees her recognised by the entire Arab world.
The poll comes as some Israeli press commentators warned Mr Olmert against missing diplomatic chances afforded by the Riyadh summit. Zeev Tzahor, writing in Yedhiot Ahronot compared Israel's situation now with that when Golda Meir's rejected Egypt's peace overtures two years before the 1973 Yom Kippur war. He wrote: "The Saudi initiative now offers the Middle East a new, rare opportunity, and the Israeli leadership is once again facing an historic test."
It would even suit the Americans to embrace such a solution. For were they able to do so, then Bush - like Blair with N. Ireland - would finally have a legacy that did not simply read, "Iraq".
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