Speaking to the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Prince Saud said the Muslim kingdom had decided to attend the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland because it would address core issues in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute as well as including the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

"The important factor is the placement of a deadline for negotiations so they do not become endless and this is what the American government hosting the conference has promised, that the time period does not exceed one year," the newspaper quoted Prince Saud as saying.

"We felt from the United States and the international Quartet some encouraging assurances on following up the negotiations through specific mechanisms and reciprocal commitments among all the active parties."

President George W. Bush opens the high-stakes Israeli-Palestinian peace conference on Tuesday, trying to achieve in his final 14 months in office a goal that has eluded US leaders for decades.

While Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and an Arab diplomatic heavyweight, has close ties to the United States, it has no diplomatic ties to the Jewish state.

It is the driving force behind an Arab peace initiative revived earlier this year, offering Israeli normal relations with all Arab states if it withdraws from all Arab territories seized in the 1967 war.

Annapolis "is a crossroads in the history of the Middle East conflict, especially in addressing the roots of the conflict and its core issues," the paper quoted Prince Saud as saying.


Agencies

Güncelleme Tarihi: 28 Kasım 2007, 00:12