Hamas' Meshaal in Saudi for talks with king
Riyadh,
Mar
21:
Hamas
leader
Khaled
Meshaal
held
talks
in
Saudi
Arabia
with
King
Abdullah
yesterday,
ahead
of
an
Arab
summit
which
is
expected
to
relaunch
an
Arab
peace
initiative
with
Israel.
The
meeting
follows
the
establishment
of
a
Palestinian
national
unity
government
between
the
Islamist
Hamas
and
the
secular
Fatah,
based
on
a
deal
brokered
by
Saudi
Arabia
last
month
that
ended
months
of
deadly
factional
violence.
Saudi
media
carried
pictures
of
the
Damascus-based
leader
of
the
Islamist
militant
group
smiling
in
what
appeared
to
be
friendly
conversation
with
King
Abdullah,
saying
only
that
they
discussed
''developments
in
the
Palestinian
situation''.
Saudi
Arabia
and
other
Arab
allies
of
Washington
such
as
Egypt
and
Jordan
say
they
want
to
use
the
summit
to
relaunch
a
peace
plan
originally
floated
at
an
Arab
summit
in
2002.
It
offers
Israel
normal
ties
with
Arab
countries
in
return
for
full
withdrawal
from
lands
occupied
in
the
1967
West
Asia
war.
Israel
rejected
the
proposal
at
the
time,
but
along
with
Washington
has
recently
made
more
positive
noises
about
it.
Israel
has
said
it
cannot
accept
some
terms
in
the
proposal,
including
the
total
withdrawal
from
all
lands
occupied
in
1967
and
the
return
of
Palestinian
refugees
to
what
is
now
the
Jewish
state.
Hamas
officials
have
welcomed
the
idea
of
a
Palestinian
state
in
the
Gaza
Strip
and
the
occupied
West
Bank,
including
Arab
East
Jerusalem,
but
rejected
recognition
of
Israel.
Saudi
daily
Okaz
cited
an
Arab
diplomat
today
as
saying
Arab
countries
would
reject
any
US
attempt
ahead
of
the
summit
to
persuade
them
to
water
down
the
plan.
US
Secretary
of
State
Condoleezza
Rice
is
to
meet
foreign
ministers
from
Egypt,
Jordan,
Saudi
Arabia
and
the
United
Arab
Emirates
in
Egypt
later
this
week.
Saudi
Arabia,
alarmed
by
political
violence
in
Iraq,
Lebanon
and
the
Palestinian
territories,
has
raised
its
diplomatic
profile
but
risked
the
ire
of
its
US
ally
in
warming
to
Hamas.
A
senior
Western
diplomat
in
Riyadh
said
Saudi
wants
the
Arab
summit
on
March
28-29
to
reinforce
support
for
the
Mecca
accord,
to
which
Washington
reacted
coldly.
''They
want
to
give
renewed
backing
to
the
Mecca
accord,
which
was
badly
received
by
the
Americans.
And
they
want
to
revive
the
Arab
peace
initiative,''
the
diplomat
said.
Reuters