ISRAELI MINISTER INSISTS THAT SAUDI INITIATIVE DOESN’T EXIST

Tel Aviv, 24 Ramadan 1436/11 July 2014 (MINA) – Israel’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Silvan Shalom, has openly and explicitly rejected the peace initiative drafted by Saudi Arabia and supported by the Arab League as a potential plan for an agreement between Israel and the Arab states.

The plan includes the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 4 June, 1967 borders. Shalom holds the portfolio for peace negotiations with the Palestinians,

“The Saudi initiative doesn’t exist,” he said during a security conference in Tel Aviv, MEMO quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

He explained that the initiative needs to be changed from its original format before it is proposed again and accepted.

The Arab-Saudi initiative was first proposed 15 years ago and has been voted on more than once by the Arab League. It was proposed as a basis for negotiations between the Arab states and Israel.

According to Shalom, the Saudis have made a number of serious changes to the initiative, which has made it difficult to accept.

He believes that there are three points in the initiative that make it problematic: it calls for an agreement based on the 1967 borders, returning the Golan Heights to Syria and the full implementation of the Palestinian right of return.

“It’s very nice to talk about the Saudi initiative,” the minister said, “but it underwent three major changes at the hand of the Arab League in Beirut, and the only proposal on the table is that of the Arab League.”

He suggested that it would be very difficult to get to negotiations on the basis of the 1967 borders, including the Golan and the right of return. “I don’t think that the current Israeli government — or any other Israeli government — would agree to negotiate on the basis of this document,” Shalom added.(T/P004/R04)

Mi’raj ISlamic News Agency (MINA)