Saudi Arabia Rejects Step by Step Approach to Peace
I guess they want, presto chango, there you have it, a Palestinian state.
Saudi Arabia praised the Obama administration Friday for its "early and robust focus" on the Middle East while rebuffing its efforts to push Riyadh to take confidence-building steps toward Israel.
"Incrementalism and the step-by-step approach has not, and we believe will not, achieve peace," said the visiting Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at his side. "Temporary security, confidence-building measures will also not bring peace."
Former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell, President Obama's special envoy for Middle East peace, has traveled almost monthly to the region, seeking to coax the Israelis and Palestinians into peace talks while also encouraging Arab states to offer incentives to Israel to take bold steps, such as a freeze on settlement growth in the Palestinian territories.
Working on what amounts to a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, Mitchell has attempted to gather chits from various Arab nations to take partial steps toward normal relations, such as opening air corridors or granting some visas, if Israel at the same time takes steps on settlements. Obama has buttressed that effort by writing private letters to Arab leaders making the case for confidence-building measures.
U.S. officials insist they are making slow but steady progress behind the scenes. But the pressure on Israel to halt settlement expansion has generated a backlash there against the United States, while no Arab states have publicly revealed what they are prepared to do. Meanwhile, the Palestinians have hardened their position, refusing to talk to Jerusalem unless there is a settlement freeze.
Saudi officials have privately been highly critical of the U.S. approach -- even rejecting appeals from Obama when he visited Riyadh -- but Saud's decision to offer such a public critique, in Washington, raises the stakes for the administration. It could also be a form of public posturing designed to blunt the impact of future concessions by Saudi Arabia.
Believe me, they wouldn't normalize relation with Israel even if there was a settlement freeze.
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