Moussa promotes Saudi initiative

More from the meeting in Jordan; Liz Cheney Gets It On with Moussa.

Wish I'd seen THAT:)


The Secretary of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, told The Jerusalem Post Saturday that he would like the Israeli people to carefully examine the Saudi Initiative because "the Arab people do want peace." His message came at the World Economic Forum in Jordan following a sharp debate on the importance of the Palestinian issue in the Arab world which brought him applause and brought Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Liz Cheney boos from the audience.

Speaking to the Jerusalem Post at the elegant new stone King Hussein bin Tallal Convention Center at the Dead Sea, Moussa said, "I would tell the Israeli people to re-read the Arab Peace Initiative of Beirut. Read it line by line. And don't let anybody tell you what is in it. The Arab people do want peace."

Only a few hours earlier an eight-person panel turned into an acrimonious two-person debate between himself and Cheney, which highlighted the different perspectives that remain between the US administration and many in the Arab world over the relationship between reforms and a solution to the Palestinian conflict.

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A Palestinian banker based in the Arab Gulf said that pragmatism was essential. "We need to be adults about this," he said asking not to be named. "Israel is not going to disappear and we must accept the reality. A solution will be found soon because we cannot continue like this. The refugees must receive compensation and find alternative homes because for them to return to their homes in Israel would mean the death of the country." But what remained in question was why so many of the participants cheered Moussa for saying that the Palestinian issue is essential to Middle East change when the day before 2/3 voted that the Arab governments were hampering reform and not Israel.

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