THE MIDDLE EAST: The Saudi Arabian peace initiative on the Middle East was welcomed in Dublin at the weekend by the Palestinian activist and writer Dr Ghada Karmi. She told a meeting of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign that it "gave the Palestinians something very tangible to look forward to".
The Saudi plan would mean the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories in return for Arab recognition of Israel within its 1967 borders. Dr Karmi, a member of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, compared it favourably with proposals from Senator George Mitchell and others which she said had offered the Palestinians nothing concrete.
The US government was "paralysed", she said. "The Americans' attention is elsewhere and that is why they do this 'gesture politics'." Sending Gen Anthony Zinni back to the region would again prove "ineffective".
The EU was "very weak". It had taken an "idiotic" decision to tie itself to the US. The EU could have an effect by imposing economic sanctions, as it was Israel's largest trading partner.
Charging that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Sharon, had no clear strategy but to "bash and bash again", she claimed Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories were "really scared" because they were now being targeted by Palestinian militants.
Meanwhile the EU was, as usual, "sending roving ambassadors, having people visit, making nice noises, talking to people, being nice," she said. "While that continues, the EU is wasting everybody's time."
However, the tactic of suicide bombing used by some Palestinian groups was "a sort of gift to the Israelis" in propaganda terms. It meant that the Palestinians lost the moral high ground. It was "very nihilistic" and reflected the despair of some Palestinians.
Dr Karmi called for a boycott of Israeli goods.
She also urged a "cultural boycott" and said artistic or sports people who performed in Israel should be challenged because they were giving implicit approval to the oppression of the Palestinian people.
Mona Salem reports from Cairo:
Saudi Arabia called yesterday for a full Israeli withdrawal from Arab land in return for "complete peace" after diplomats said it modified an initiative to end spiralling Palestinian-Israeli violence.
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, dropped a previous call for "complete normalisation" with Israel after meeting President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Arab foreign ministers preparing for an Arab summit in Beirut on March 27th.
Arab diplomats said Saudi Arabia had agreed to a Syrian request to introduce instead the term "complete peace", because it stresses diplomatic or government-to-government rather than people-to-people ties.