Olmert met high-ranking Saudi-Israeli newspaper

Jerusalem, Sept 25: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently held talks with a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family on W Asia peace and Iran's nuclear programme, Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said today.

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomat relations.

Israel's biggest-selling daily reported that some of its sources, whom it did not name, said Olmert met King Abdullah 10 days ago.

Other sources, the newspaper said, identified the Saudi as another senior member of the royal family.

Asked about the reported meeting, a spokeswoman for Olmert said: ''I don't know about it. I know nothing.'' Gideon Ezra, an Israeli cabinet minister, said on Israel Radio the only information he had about any such talks came from the newspaper report.

The kingdom was a moving force behind a 2002 Arab peace initiative cited in a document providing the basis for a unity government that rival Palestinian factions have been trying to form.

According to the newspaper, the peace plan was a main item on the agenda of the Israeli-Saudi talks.

Iran's support for Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas and the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions have caused concern in Riyadh and helped pave the way for the meeting in the wake of a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah, Yedioth Ahronoth said.

It said Israel's main ally, the United States, had approved the talks. The newspaper did not say where the reported meeting had taken place.

In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth last week, Olmert praised King Abdullah for his ''wisdom and sense of responsibility''.

Asked in the interview if Israel was holding secret contacts with Saudi Arabia, Olmert replied: ''I don't have to answer every question.''

REUTERS

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