Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the Meeting of the Ministerial Committee for the Following up of the Arab Peace Initiative, which was concluded here today, said Saudi Arabia is committed to Arab consensus which has decided to go to the peace conference in the US city of Annapolis. Prince Saud said he sensed an international public opinion that wants to end the crisis of Middle East Arab-Israeli conflict and bring it to a peaceful solution. In a joint press conference with Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Musa following the conclusion of the committee's meetings today, Prince Saud said normalization with Israel is governed by the Arab Peace Initiative to which the Arab countries adhere. He added that normalization follows a comprehensive peace after the comprehensive withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands. He disclosed that until early today, Saudi Arabia was planning not to attend, but when it saw the Arab consensus and the real unprecedented public opinion and determination in Israel, the U.S., and the European Union, to solve the problem, it joined the Arab consensus and decided to attend. Prince Saud hoped for the participation of Iraq which did not attend the meeting today. He said that there were meetings devoted to the issue of Iraq and others for other issues like the Palestinian cause. Today's meeting is devoted for the Arab-Israeli file, he said. On Israeli demands concerning its recognition as a Jewish State, Prince Saud said it is impossible to accept such Israeli proposals, adding that the Arabs will go to a peace conference that pursues peace, preserves Arab rights and restores Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese lands. --More
