web analytics

“Revolutionary Change” Is Arab Re-hash

On March 28th, 2002, Arab leaders endorsed a plan put forward by Saudi crown prince Abdullah, for a peace agreement with Israel. Here’s how it was reported in the Guardian newspaper of the day:

“…….The plan, proposed by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Abdullah, offers a “normalisation” of relations with Israel if it withdraws from all occupied Arab land, accepts a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and agrees to the return of Palestinian refugees.

The Lebanese foreign minister, Mahmoud Hammoud, said that once Israel has fulfilled the Arab demands, “the Arab-Israeli conflict would be considered finished and [the two sides] would enter into a peace treaty and achieving security for all countries of the region and establish normal relations with Israel”. Endorsement came a day after the Saudi crown prince presented his proposals at the Arab League summit in Beirut……”

Israel rejected the agreement out of hand and it has lain on the table ever since.

Yesterday – five years on from that agreement – Arab leaders endorsed a plan, as reported in the Guardian newspaper:

“……offering Israel recognition and security in exchange for a return to 1967 borders and a “just solution” to the issue of Palestinian refugees………The declaration from the Riyadh summit……..calls for “a just and comprehensive peace”, and says Israel should surrender the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, all conquered in the six days war in June 1967.””

According to today’s Guardian, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, “……welcomed a land-for-peace deal offered by Arab states as a “revolutionary change”…….”

Where has he been these past five years?

Filed under:

Hosted By A2 Hosting

Website Developed By R J Adams