A pro-Israel group welcomed a hint from Saudi Arabia that it would attend an Israeli-Palestinian peace meeting. “Saudi Arabia’s participation in this conference together with Israel will be a momentous and highly significant diplomatic breakthrough that will elevate this conference’s importance and prospects for success,” the Israel Policy Forum said in a statement. On Wednesday, Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and suggested his nation would favorably consider her invitation to a fall meeting.
“When this takes place, we will study it and we will be keen to attend,” he said. President Bush, who announced the meeting last month, said it would be aimed at bolstering institution building among the Palestinians and made recognition of Israel and rejection of terrorism a condition for attending.
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