By Xinhua
Riyadh : Saudi Arabia urged Wednesday for setting a timetable to implement any deal on key Middle East issues before holding the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal made the call in a news conference in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, according to reports reaching here from the kingdom’s resort.
The U.S.-sponsored conference “would be pointless unless it addressed key Mideast issues and set a timetable to implement any deal,” Faisal told the reporters.
If a timetable is not set for the key issues –Jerusalem, the borders, the Palestinians and other issues that were clearly stated in the Arab Peace Initiative, “then we will enter endless negotiations,” he stressed.
“Responsibilities must be reciprocal and not on one side only, and Israel must prove its seriousness through action on the ground,” urged the Saudi top diplomat.
Faisal threatened to boycott the conference by saying that “the kingdom does not see any use from any meeting or conference… if it is not comprehensive and if it does not tackle major issues.”
“If these matters are not addressed by the meeting, I doubt the kingdom will participate,” he added.
On July 16, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed to hold the international conference, which would bring together Israel, the Palestinians and some neighboring Arab states in the U.S. in November, to help resume the stalled Middle East peace talks.
Saudi Arabia has been trying to bolster its role as a Middle East peace broker and took the lead in March this year in relaunching the Arab Peace Initiative at the 19th Arab summit in Riyadh.