European Union foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana flew into Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss Arab-Israeli peacemaking after Crown Prince Abdullah revived an Arab offer to trade Israeli-occupied land for peace.
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Mr Javier Solana
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Mr Solana cut short a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories to fly to Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of Jeddah for talks with Prince Abdullah, de facto ruler of Washington's main Gulf Arab ally.
Earlier this month Prince Abdullah resurrected an Arab offer to normalise relations with Israel in return for full Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
The initiative, a longstanding Arab demand and the basis of Arab-Israeli peace talks launched in 1991, appears to have renewed hopes for ending 17 months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in which more than 1,100 people have been killed.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has said he appreciated and supported completely Prince Abdullah's efforts.
The proposal aired by the Saudi leader, but not yet formally made, has also won praise from Western Security Council members as well as US President George W Bush.
The White House said Mr Bush hailed the ideas in a conversation with the crown prince yesterday. However, a spokesman said Washington believed proposals already on the table for ending the violence had to take effect first.
Mr Solana, who met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem yesterday, told reporters the Israeli leader was prepared to meet any Saudi officials to discuss the plan.
But Israeli right-wingers have made clear they will oppose any proposal that calls for a return to pre-1967 borders on the grounds that that would jeopardise the Jewish state's security.