ISRAELI officials today refused to accept the revived Arab peace initiative as it currently stands, saying negotiations were needed. "There is only one way to overcome our differences, and that is negotiation," Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Israeli public radio. "It's impossible to say: you must take what we offer you as is."
The blueprint, endorsed at an Arab summit yesterday, offers Israel full normalisation of relations if it withdraws from all land occupied in the 1967 war and allows the creation of a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees. The Arab nations called on "the government of Israel and all Israelis to accept the Arab peace initiative and seize the opportunity to resume the process of direct and serious negotiations on all tracks".
The Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement that it was interested in dialogue with moderate Arab states, but it did not endorse the document. "Israel is sincerely interested in continuing dialogue with Arab countries who want to make peace with a view to promoting a process of normalisation and cooperation and hopes that the Riyadh summit will contribute to this effort," it said. |