The United States has promised that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat can attend the forthcoming Arab summit, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah was quoted as telling a high-level Palestinian delegation in Jeddah on Tuesday.
"The crown prince told us the Americans promised that chairman Arafat will be attending the Arab summit in Beirut," Majdi al-Khaledi, a senior official at the Palestinian international cooperation ministry told AFP.
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) number two Mahmud Abbas and Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath arrived in Jeddah Sunday for talks on a Saudi land-for-peace initiative expected to be formalized at the March 27-28 summit in Lebanon.
Israel has blockaded the Palestinian leader in the West Bank town of Ramallah for more than three months, amid calls for him to get tough on extremist groups attacking Israelis.
The meeting with the Palestinians took place after Prince Abdullah received a phone call from US Vice President Dick Cheney from Israel.
"Talks also covered all contacts made by Prince Abdullah with a number of world leaders regarding the peace initiative," Palestinian ambassador Mustafa al-Shaikh Dib said. Khaledi and Dib also attended the meeting.
"We have reached full agreement on all the main points of the Saudi peace overture. We have also discussed a comprehensive mechanism on the initiative," to make it mandatory to all, he said.
The Palestinians want the initiative to include "terms that make it extremely difficult for Israel to escape the implementation as it did with previous agreements," Dib said.
Saudi Prince Abdullah on Monday held talks with Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb on the peace initiative.
The visits came just two days after Cheney left Saudi Arabia where he declared Washington's support for the Saudi peace initiative.
Saudi Arabia has suggested an exchange of full Arab peace with Israel if it withdraws from all land it occupied in the 1967 war. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
