Palestinian International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath began a visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks on the Saudi peace proposal, the Palestinian "ambassador" in the Saudi Kingdom said Sunday.
Shaath, who arrived overnight accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, was due to meet later in the day with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, as well as other senior officials, Mustafa al-Sheikh Dib told AFP.
The talks would focus on ways of adopting a "common Palestinian-Saudi approach to the initiative" and the outcome of a meeting between Crown Prince Abdullah and two senior US officials, he said.
Earlier, CIA Director George Tenet and US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns held talks Thursday with the Saudi Prince over his peace initiative.
Dib said the Saudis have been exerting "continuous efforts with the Americans" to ensure that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat attends the Arab summit scheduled for March 27 in Beirut.
The Prince, de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, raised the prospect last month of the Arab world normalizing relations with Israel in return for a total Israeli withdrawal from Arab territories seized in the 1967 war.
His plan has been widely welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and several Western countries. Israel and the United States have not dismissed it but have been more reserved.
Prince Abdullah told EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Wednesday that he would present the Saudi initiative to the summit for endorsement as an Arab initiative.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa was also expected to arrive in Jeddah on Monday. (Albawaba.com)
