The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it fully supported a Saudi peace proposal for Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for the Jewish State's total withdrawal from occupied land, according to AFP.
"The UAE gives its total support" to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz's initiative, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahyan, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, told Al-Ittihad newspaper.
The Saudi proposal "confirms the commitment of the entire Arab nation to establishing a fair and comprehensive peace in the region through peaceful negotiations based on international resolutions," Sheikh Hamdan said.
It shows "Arabs are capable of taking good decisions at a good time" ahead of the Arab summit due in March in Beirut, he said, adding that Arabs should "put an end to Israel's policy of shilly-shallying over the peace process."
"There is still enough time for all concerned parties to give Prince Abdullah's initiative a chance to be formalized," Sheikh Hamdan claimed, calling on the "forces of peace in the world to act quickly to support the initiative."
He called on the U.S. as the "first legitimate sponsor of the [Middle East] peace process" to act to contribute to re-establishing peace throughout the region.
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah was quoted in the New York Times on Sunday as saying that Saudi Arabia favored Arab states normalizing relations with Israel if it carried out a full withdrawal from territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
The United States on Tuesday termed the proposal "significant and positive" but remained cautious, saying it had to be looked at in the framework of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Albawaba.com)
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