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Saudi, Syrian Reservations About U.S. Peace Plan
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U.S. plan “ does not make equal requirements of both sides”: Prince Saud
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Muscat
, October 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State William Burns arrived in
Muscat
Sunday, October 27, to promote a U.S.-drafted
Middle East
peace plan as
Saudi Arabia
and
Syria
voiced reservations to his “roadmap” overture.
“He
will meet here with Sultan Qaboos and Foreign Minister Yussuf bin
Alawi bin Abdullah before leaving for Kuwait this afternoon,” a
spokeswoman of the U.S. embassy in Muscat told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
The
visit came as part of his tour “to consult with regional leaders on
interests of mutual interest,
Mideast
peace negotiations and, of course,
Iraq
,” she said.
Burns
arrived in
Oman
from
Yemen
, where he assured President Ali Abdullah Saleh of continued
U.S.
economic aid and support in the fight against terrorism.
The
assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs was quoted by the
official SABA news agency as stressing Washington's determination to
see two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side.
“It’s
the only way to end the occupation, suffering, extremism and
terrorism,” he reportedly said.
Burns
received a chilly reception in
Israel
- his stop before
Yemen
- over a U.S.-backed peace plan that calls for the creation of a
Palestinian state existing alongside
Israel
by 2005.
A
top advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Saturday,
October 26, the plan failed to meet Israeli security demands.
Burns
has been trying to convince both sides to back the plan put together
by
Washington
, the United Nations, the European Union and
Moscow
.
The
U.S. envoy’s 12-stop regional tour, which seeks to promote the peace
process and the U.S. push to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, has
already included stops in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi
Arabia, as well as Israeli and the Palestinian territories.
In
Riyadh
,
Saudi Arabia
and
Syria
voiced reservations on Saturday, October 26, about the U.S.-backed
blueprint, put together by the United Nations, the European Union and
Russia
as well as the
United States
.
“The
first remark is that (the plan) does not make equal requirements of
both (Israeli and Palestinians) sides,” Saudi Foreign Minister
Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters after a meeting of a Saudi-Syrian
cooperation commission he co-chaired with his Syrian counterpart Faruq
al-Shara.
“The
onus should be on the side that triggered the current cycle of
violence, and we all know that this cycle was unleashed by (Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon’s infamous visit to Al-Aqsa mosque”
in Occupied Jerusalem in September 2000, he said.
The
second remark “is that any plan should lead to the Arab peace
initiative, meaning that the peace process should lead to full
withdrawal in exchange for full peace,” Prince Saud said.
A
Saudi-inspired peace plan endorsed by the Arab summit in Beirut last
March calls for Israel's full withdrawal from Arab lands seized in the
1967 Middle East war in exchange for peace and normal relations.
Prince
Saud said, however, that the plan Burns was promoting on his current
tour had “some positive aspects” which should be “examined
seriously.”
Shara
for his part said that any plan “that is not based on the Arab
initiative and U.N. resolutions will be very difficult to
implement.”
“What’s
on offer does not provide for a comprehensive settlement ... There is
an attempt to portray the conflict as being Palestinian-Israeli only,
whereas a settlement should cover all tracks,” he said.
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