Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, who is responsible for peace negotiations with the Palestinians, on Thursday rejected outright the peace initiative drafted by Saudi Arabia and backed by the Arab League as a blueprint for a possible agreement. He said it now features little-known provisions and changes that would make it impossible even for a less hawkish government to take it seriously.
“The Saudi initiative doesn’t exist,” Shalom said during a security conference in Tel Aviv, elaborating that it had been changed from its original format.
Since it was first tabled in 2002, the initiative was voted on several times at various the Arab League summits, and Shalom charged that the Saudis agreed to three major changes that render it more problematic. (READ MORE)
