Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas today warned of more violence if the "hand of peace" was rejected after Arab leaders today endorsed a peace plan for the region.
Speaking at the end of an Arab summit in Riyadh, Mr Abbas called for a committee led by Saudi Arabia to pursue peace talks with Israel.
"I reiterate the sincerity of the Palestinian will in extending the hand of peace to the Israeli people. . . . We should not waste more chances in the history of this long and painful cause," Mr Abbas said.
"The entire region will be under renewed threats of war, explosions, as well as regional and international confrontations, as a result of the absence of a solution or the impossibility of implementing one."
The summit drew world and Muslim leaders who backed the plan offering Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for its withdrawal from land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, the creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinians displaced in 1948.
This plan was rejected by Israel when it was originally proposed at a Beirut summit in 2002. Israel objects to the proposed return to 1967 borders, the inclusion of Arab East Jerusalem in a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees to homes in what is now Israel.
Backed by its US ally, the Jewish state has said it prefers to negotiate the terms of peace first.