Israel Matzav

US ambassador to Israel confirms Israeli contacts with Saudis

They've been denied several times already, but US Ambasador to Israel Richard Jones confirmed today that Israel has been holding 'secret talks' with representatives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:

Despite denials by both countries, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones said he felt it was important to publicize the contacts. “I don’t have any particular details on it, but the very fact that … first of all they would be able to communicate and that they would be willing to communicate with one another I think shows a very serious approach,” he said.

Jones commented that such contacts would be a logical response to the chaos that is engulfing the region. He said cautiously that perhaps Israel is taking a second look at a long-rejected Saudi peace plan proposed in 2002.

“I think they (the Israelis) recognize that Saudi Arabia’s policies have evolved in recent years and that Saudi Arabia is now more interested, and more on the side of peace,” he said. “The Israelis are warming to that.”

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Sunday that the plan, which calls from Israel to surrender all of the land restored in the 1967 Six-Day War, could be the basis for an agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a similar statement last month.

In return, the Saudi plan offers recognition of the State of Israel by Arab countries.

Kadima Cabinet Minister Meir Sheetrit said in October that he too is in favor of holding discussions on the plan.

Olmert, Peretz and Sheetrit were all clear that Israel will not surrender heavily populated areas, such as the Jerusalem suburbs of Neve Ya’akov and Ma’aleh Adumim.

The U.S. Ambassador was not specific about the content of the meeting held in September between the two leaders. “There is definitely something going on there,” he said, “but beyond the one contact that was in the press I am not privy to [it].”

What may be the scariest part in all this is that Olmert and Peretz are wide open to giving the entire country away. They seem to have no clue about how Islam permits its political leaders to operate, particularly how it allows them to abrogate treaties. No treaty with a Muslim country is permanent. It was one thing to give away Sinai, which was essentially a buffer zone. It's quite another to go back to what Israel's then-ambassador to the UN Abba Eban called the "Auschwitz borders" of pre-1967 Israel. And has anyone considered that the 'Saudi initiative' calls for allowing the 'Palestinian refugees' to return to the rump state of Israel that would be left after implementation of the Saudi initiative?

We need to bring about new elections before this government gives away the store and throws away the keys.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:26 AM