Saudi Arabia threatens to withdraw from the Bush peace conference
Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Saudi Arabia may withdraw from the Middle East peace conference called by President George Bush, unless concrete fundamental themes are put onto the talks agenda. The threat, put forward by the Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal is yet another voice in the chorus seeking to address the issue of the ahead of the November conference.
The Arab nations, in short even those on friendly terms with the USA, want to avoid that the conference becomes and purely symbolic occasion, without concrete results. Al-Faisal’s statement echoes the doubts expressed by other “moderate” leaders, like the Egyptian president Mubarak or King Abdullah of Jordan. Already last week, in fact Arab Foreign ministers gathered in Cairo had asked for the conference to address the need for a real solution to the problems and not simply become a diplomatic exhibition.
Parallel to Saudi demands – including a request for the conference agenda which Washington has yet to provide – Fatah has asked that Syria be included in talks. Abdallah Al-Frangi, charge for external relations for the movement headed by Palestinian president Mahomoud Abbas, has said that “a peace conference can have no result without the participation of Syria and other countries who have problems with Israel”.
But French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has also demanded more concrete issues be tackled. Speaking form Jerusalem on the first stop of his Middle east tour, he said that the outcome of the encounter must be the creation of a Palestinian state. “It must be created within the coming weeks”, he said. Kouchner, expressed optimism in this direction, in so far as, his sources say, Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert and President Abbas have already begun “work on a plan”.
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