WASHINGTON (JTA) — The New York Times and Washington Post published ads promoting the 2002 Arab peace initiative.
The advertisements were placed Friday by the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO and are similar to the ads that appeared in four Israeli newspapers last month.
The text of the initiative is printed, along with a statement from the OIC backing the plan. The text is surrounded by the flags of the 57 Arab and Muslim countries that the ad states back the initiative, with large Palestinian and Israeli flags printed at the top of the page.
The Arab League intiative offers Israel normalization of relations with the Arab world in exchange for return to the 1967 borders and a "just solution" to the Palestinian refugee issue that would be "agreed upon" by the parties. Israel has in the past complained that the refugee language is vague and leaves open the possiblity of a mass return.
