Half of the U.S. Senate is urging King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to reconsider his refusal to take part in a proposed Middle East regional peace conference.
But the Bush administration appears satisfied with the Saudi stance that it is not a “front-line state” in the Arab-Israeli conflict and should therefore only get involved in discussions with Israel after the Palestinian issue is resolved among the immediate parties.
The senators made their views known in a letter expected to be mailed by this weekend. The letter is a reaction to a statement Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal made Monday after meeting with Secretary of State James Baker, who was touring the region.
Faisal said his country “supports the efforts of the United States for the convening of an early peace conference” and’ “aspires to and exerts all of its efforts” to achieve peace.
“Saudi Arabia believes it is time to put an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict and to achieve a comprehensive and just solution to the Palestinian question,” Faisal said.
Once that question is “tackled in the conference,” Saudi Arabia might be interested in discussing areas of mutual cooperation with other countries in the region, he said.
But he added, “We cannot go ahead of ourselves.”
SAUDI INVOLVEMENT ‘INDISPENSABLE’
Before arriving in the Saudi kingdom, Baker said in Egypt that he did not think the Saudis would participate in the proposed “political discussion between Israel and her Arab neighbors and the political discussion between Israel and the Palestinians.”
He explained that the “issues in dispute” affect Israel and the front-line Arab states. There is a question of “where do you draw the line” among such states, he said.
The letter, which was signed by 57 senators as of Thursday afternoon, argues that “Saudi Arabia’s participation in the negotiations with Israel is indispensable for any real peace process to succeed.”
The senators criticize the Saudi government for its “unwillingness to engage itself fully in the peace process through a regional peace parley.”
The lawmakers praise Israel for its “agreement to invite the Soviet Union into the process and to convene a broader Middle East parley that would lead immediately to bilateral negotiations.”
The senators tell Fahd that Israel has made an “important contribution to the peace process” and has made a “concession” at “substantial risk.”
“Israel has been willing to meet with every country ever since their independence” in 1948, Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), who co-sponsored the letter along with Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), told reporters Thursday.
“The only peace that’s ever going to work,” he said, “is a peace which is bargained by the parties.”
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