Saudis welcome US report's accent on Palestinians

RIYADH, Dec 10 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia today welcomed a US report on foreign policy in the region for emphasising a need for more attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal also praised the report for suggesting that the Iraqi constitution might need rewording -- a central Sunni demand in Iraq, where Shi'ite Muslims have held sway since the US-led invasion of 2003.

The bipartisan report compiled by the elite Iraq Study Group in Washington, established to review US policy in Iraq, highlighted the need to tackle the historic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians seeking to establish a state on land it has controlled since 1967.

''The issue of the Palestinians has poisoned the air,'' Prince Faisal told a news conference after a meeting of the heads of Gulf Arab states in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

''We hope that in coming to decisions about what is to be done ... the realities of the region will be taken into decisions and the counsel of the countries of the region will be taken into consideration.'' Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have long argued that Washington's priority in the region should be resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the administration of George W Bush has in the past rejected that line of argument.

The report also recommended the United States begin withdrawing forces from Iraq and launch a diplomatic push, including Iran and Syria, to avoid chaos there as sectarian violence rages between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.

''It has, on the positive side, asked for a revisiting of the elements of the constitution that have created such a great division between the people of Iraq,'' the Saudi minister said.

''It has indicated that all Iraqis should share in the wealth of Iraq,'' he said, adding the report should have been more forthright on disbanding militias.

Largely Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia shares the concerns of minority Sunnis in Iraq over the constitution, which they fear could place much of Iraq's oil wealth outside the Sunnis' reach and lead to a break-up of the country.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington last week urged the United States to refrain from withdrawing troops from Iraq suddenly to prevent it fracturing further along sectarian lines.

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