Analysis: Land for Recognition, Another Chance for Mideast Peace

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 27, 2002

Analysis: Land for Recognition, Another Chance for Mideast Peace

The deadlocked Middle East peace process is being given a new chance as Arab leaders gather in Beirut Wednesday at the 14th Arab Summit to discuss a Saudi initiative for peace.
The initiative proposes full Israeli withdrawal from all occupied land for recognition of the Jewish nation by the Arab world.

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Proposal Slightly Different from "Land for Peace" Principles

The Saudi proposal, revealed in February, demands that Israel withdraw to its borders as they stood before the 1967 Middle East war and give up Jerusalem, a holy site hotly contested between the Jews and Muslims, which has always been a thorny issue in the Middle East peace process.

The proposal has not much new to offer compared to a 1984 Jordanian proposal and is almost slightly different version of the "Land for Peace" principle put forward 20 years ago at the 12th Arab Summit in Morocco. However, it came at a crucial moment when the Middle East peace process was near collapsing as a result of escalating Israeli-Palestinian bloody conflicts since September, 2000.

Proposal Met with Positive Response from Most Countries

The proposal, embodying Arab nations' firm belief in and realistic attitude toward recovering lost Arab land and achieving peace, sent a clear signal to Israel: the Jewish state must return all occupied land if it wishes to form long-term stable relations of good neighborliness with Arab countries.

The proposal has met with positive response from most of the Arab states, the European Union, Russia and the United States.

Israel, however, has accused it of endangering its security and rejected it. Palestinians have expressed a welcome, but maintained that as a solution to their conflicts with Israel, it has certain defects.

Saudi Proposal Means to End Arab-Israeli Confrontation

The Saudi proposal means to serve as a peace package to end the longtime Arab-Israeli confrontation once and for all, and evades the rights and wrongs in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It may turn out to be a failure since it can hardly help settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which broke out due to deadlocks in bilateral political negotiations.

Nevertheless, the Saudi move offers a chance to find a way out for Middle East peace, since no sides involved in the conflict can offer a better solution. No chance for peace can be neglected at this point. A total of more than 1,000 Palestinians and Israelis have been killed so far in this conflict.

Observers here generally believe that Israel constitutes the major factor in resolving Israeli-Arab conflicts. They expressed the hope that Israel could discard outmoded way of thinking and seize the opportunity to create an entirely new environment for its survival so as to live in peace with its neighbors.

China Supports Saudi Mideast Peace Proposal

China appreciates and supports the Middle East peace proposal put forward by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and considers the proposal "positive and constructive".(In Detail)

Washington Views Saudi Proposal as Positive Step to Mideast Peace

A Saudi peace proposal to recognize Israel in exchange for Israel's total withdrawal from occupied Palestinian land is a "significant and positive step," said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Feb 19.

"We saw the statements over the weekend by Crown Prince Abdullah (bin Abdul Aziz). Certainly, if Saudi Arabia is willing to reach out to Israel to talk about peace and normalization of relations, then that is a significant and positive step," said Boucher at a news briefing. (In Detail)

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