MIDDLE EAST:Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's call for a regional conference with Arab leaders drew a sceptical response yesterday from Saudi and Palestinian officials and diplomats who said it was a diversionary tactic.
Mr Olmert proposed holding the conference as a possible alternative to US-backed plans for talks through an Arab League working group that could try to negotiate details of a land-for-peace accord, diplomats involved in the matter said.
But Saudi officials say the kingdom would only consider talks if Israel clearly accepted the Arab peace initiative without any conditions.
A statement issued after yesterday's Saudi cabinet session stated the kingdom's position. "Israel should realise that peace requires that it ends its constant violations and inhuman aggression towards the Palestinian people before anything else, and accept legal decisions passed by world bodies," the statement said.
The US, Egypt and others have been pressing Mr Olmert to agree to hold talks as soon as possible with the planned Arab League working group, but he has been reluctant to do so, the senior diplomats said.
"He is making an alternative proposal [ to hold a regional conference] because he knows it won't happen. He is sidestepping the issue," said a diplomat.
Nimer Hammad, a political adviser to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, called Mr Olmert's proposal "a dodge", adding that "he seeks normalisation without paying the price".
At the Riyadh summit, Arab leaders revived a five-year-old peace plan that offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it seized in the 1967 Middle East war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.
Egyptian assistant foreign minister Hani Khallaf said yesterday that an Arab League committee will set up a working group to contact Israel about the land-for-peace initiative. - (Reuters)