Israel, Syria, Lebanon and other Arab states would try to resolve the Middle East conflict under a new "combined approach" presently under review with the U.S., Jordan's king stated Wednesday. As part of the new move, Arab diplomats said the Obama administartion has asked the Arab League to amend its 2002 peace proposal to make it more acceptable to Israel.
According to some sources, the U.S. administration has asked the Arabs to drop the right of return of Palestinians and agree to either resettle the refugees in the host countries or in the Palestinian territories.
"What we are discussing today is a combined approach of bringing together Arabs, Europeans and the United States as a team to create the circumstances over the next several months that allow Israelis and Palestinians to sit at the table, but also with Lebanese, Syrians and Arab nations," Jordan's King Abdullah in Berlin, according to the AP. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said rejected that suggestion.
On his part, Abdullah said an Israeli-Palestinian settlement would make 57 Islamic nations go into direct negotiations with the Israelis." So it is a packaged effort that we are going to work on ... and I would imagine that the plan will be more articulated by the president of the United States after (Israeli) Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Washington," the monarch conveyed.
Earlier Wednesday, International Mideast envoy Tony Blair declared that Washington and other international negotiators are drafting a new strategy for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and expect to unveil it within six weeks.
