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Israel should send a new message to the Arab world. The unanimous decision by Arab leaders to revive a five-year-old plan for peace with Israel and launch a diplomatic offensive to resolve the Middle East conflict presents Israel with an opportunity. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Riyadh summit that the Arab initiative suggested a "new way forward", offering "new stirrings of potential" that the world community should now build on. The appeal from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Israel to accept the deal should not fall on deaf ears. Abbas' statement that the entire Middle East region would be under threat unless a solution is found to the Palestine crisis is justifiable. The warning from Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal carried the same message. Israel was subjecting "not only the region but itself to dangers with unpredictable repercussions" if it ignored peace offers. The 2002 Saudi peace initiative on the Israel-Palestine conflict calls for full Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state, Israel's withdrawal from all Arab territories and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Israel has responded to these Arab peace offers with a guarded welcome. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have made positive remarks about the Arab plan, but insisted on keeping the refugee question out of negotiations. With the recent formation of a new Palestinian national unity government and signs of reinvigorated US diplomacy, the Arab initiative offers a rare chance to revive the peace process. The ball is now in Israel's court. The United States has put democracy at the top of its Middle East agenda. The real issue is not a question of development in the Arab world, but it is both an issue of peace and development. And as long as the Arab-Israel conflict over Palestine is not solved, the development process will continually be interrupted and irreversibly set back. UN and EU diplomats say there are plans for a meeting of international peace brokers that would bring the Quartet the European Union, the UN, Russia and the United States together with several Arab states over the next few weeks. Any solution to this conflict has to be just and comprehensive. (China Daily March 31, 2007) |
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