US to invite Arab League committee to peace meeting

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 23 (Reuters) The United States will invite the members of an Arab League panel that includes Syria and Saudi Arabia to a West Asia peace conference it plans to hold this year, a senior US official said today.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington would invite the Israelis and Palestinians, their neighbors, the ''Quartet'' of West Asia peace mediators and ''the members of the Arab League follow-up committee'' to the meeting expected to be held in the United States in November.

That committee includes the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. Only the last two have full relations with Israel, while Syria and Lebanon are deeply estranged from the Jewish state.

REUTERS AK PM0118