Saudi king heads to Spain, Palestinians on agenda

RIYADH, June 18 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah hopes to get European help to end violence among Palestinians and restart peace talks with Israel during a tour beginning in Spain this week, Saudi media reported today.

King Abdullah, who in recent months has bolstered Saudi Arabia's diplomatic role in the region, leaves later today for Spain, on the first leg of a visit that will also take him to France, Poland, Jordan and Egypt.

He warned ahead of his trip, the first to Europe since he became king in 2005, that the repercussions of a rise in West Asia violence would be felt around the world.

''As we make rapid efforts to solve the (Israeli-Palestinian) conflict, we have begun to see ... turmoil in the region expanding to many countries, including Iraq and Lebanon,'' he told Spain's El Pais in an interview also published by the Saudi daily al-Riyadh.

''My fears are those of all sensible people, that the situation will explode and that its effects will not be on the region alone but on the whole world.'' The Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group are locked in a power struggle that saw Hamas take control of the Gaza Strip this week. Western and regional powers are backing opposing parties.

Lebanon has been shaken by a series of bombings over the past two years and its army is now fighting a group of al Qaeda-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp. A year ago, Israel fought a war with Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group.

Sectarian violence has escalated in Iraq since the U.S.

invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Saudi ambassador in Madrid Saud bin Nayef told the official Saudi Press Agency that the two countries would ''jointly call for peace in the West Asia''.

Spain, which hosted a historic West Asia peace conference in 1991, wants the Palestinians to agree to a deployment of UN-sponsored international forces to monitor a ceasefire, a Spanish foreign ministry official told the Okaz newspaper.

''This is what is needed now and we will discuss this during King Abdullah's visit and listen to the Saudi views and proposals,'' the official was quoted as saying.

An Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia this year relaunched a 2002 initiative offering Israel normal relations with Arab countries in return for its withdrawal from land occupied in 1967, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The United States, a close Saudi ally, had hoped the plan would pave the way for Saudi Arabia to establish direct contact with the Jewish state, but Jordan and Egypt, which already have ties with Israel, will lead contacts to promote the peace plan.

Reuters JK GC1757