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New York: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister described as 'encouraging' his talks with US officials about a proposed Mideast peace meeting, but stressed that success will be determined by commitments to tackle key final status issues, not whether Arab countries agree to attend.
The Bush administration, trying to revive long-stalled talks between Israel and the Palestinians, has proposed a November meeting to bring the two sides to the table, joined by other key players. It is eager to secure the participation of regional powerhouses like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which has yet to sign a peace deal with the Jewish state.
Arab nations, however, fear that without a commitment to discuss thorny topics such as the status of occupied Jerusalem and right of return of Palestinians, the meeting will develop into a photo opportunity that could do more harm than good.
The meeting's agenda has yet to be set.
"It is not Saudi Arabia that puts conditions, or Saudi Arabia that is going to negotiate," Saudi Prince Saud Al Faisal told reporters on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "Its presence there, or non-presence, is not the most significant issue." Saud avoided committing his country's participation, and made clear that he is voicing the Arab position. But the veteran diplomat also sounded an optimistic tone following a meeting with Bush administration officials.
"We have been shown a canvas with some brushstrokes that has nice colours in them ... but we don't yet know if it is a portrait or a landscape that we are looking at," Saud said in the round-table discussion held at a Manhattan hotel.
Based on the discussions with US officials, "there is a sense there is something new happening and this is encouraging" if it turns out to be true, he said.
Saud said that discussions indicated that "the intent is to look at the final status issue - the important issues, and not the peripheral issues. This is encouraging. This is what we have always asked for." Saud's note of optimism was mirrored in the Middle East, where the leaders of Egypt and Jordan urged Palestinians to set aside their differences and work for peace, reiterating that the US-sponsored meeting was "an important opportunity for achieving tangible results," according to a statement released after the meeting in Amman.
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