Israel sees Arab peace plan talks as step forward

JERUSALEM, July 24 (Reuters) Israel said it hoped a visit tomorrow by Egyptian and Jordanian envoys will gradually lead to broader talks over an Arab land-for-peace initiative but made clear major disagreements remained.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni during a one-day visit to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The joint visit will be the first by members of an Arab League working group set up in April to hold contacts with Israel over the long-stalled initiative.

Miri Eisin, Olmert's spokeswoman, called the visit an ''important step'' because it showed both sides were willing to ''respond positively to a forthcoming initiative without having to agree to every element up front''.

The land-for-peace initiative offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it seized in the 1967 West Asia war, creation of a Palestinian state and a ''just solution'' for Palestinian refugees.

Eisin said Israel has set no preconditions for the talks.

Olmert has said he sees positive points in the Arab peace initiative. But Israel opposes the return of Palestinian refugees to their former homes in what is now the Jewish state and wants to hold on to major settlement blocs in the West Bank.

''Israel is more than willing to listen to the full Arab proposal,'' Eisin said. ''We will be happy to respond and present our positions as a base for a future continuing dialogue.'' Israeli officials said this month they believed that the initiative was on hold because of objections from Saudi Arabia to Western efforts to isolate Hamas Islamists who seized control of the Gaza Strip on June 14.

''It would be irrational for Israel to expect the Arab side to accept all of our positions as a pre-requisite for talks, and the same holds true in the other direction,'' Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

Israel has asked the Arab League to expand the size of the working group beyond Egypt and Jordan, which already have full relations with Israel.

The Arab League said the working group could be expanded if Israel met a list of Arab demands, including the lifting of sanctions against the Palestinian government.

Israel has restored economic ties to the emergency government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed last month in the occupied West Bank following Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Eisin said Israel hoped that ''in time'' additional Arab League members would join Egypt and Jordan in holding talks with Israeli leaders.

''It appears we have to be more patient,'' Regev said.

Reuters GT GC1956