Olmert seeks talks with Saudis, moderate Arab states

[bemildred]

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to start a dialogue with Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab countries after the Riyadh summit again ratified the Saudi peace initiative.

In an interview appearing in the Haaretz supplement Week's End, Olmert said he would be happy to take part in a regional conference that would support direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

"A bloc of states is emerging that understands that they may have been wrong to think that Israel is the world's greatest problem. That is a revolutionary change in outlook," Olmert said.

"There are interesting ideas there, and we are ready to hold discussions and hear from the Saudis about their approach and to tell them about ours," he added.

Haaretz

This is getting interesting.

[oberliner]

1. Isn't it a bit odd that Saudi Arabia

is considered a "moderate Arab state" ?

[bemildred]

2. You noticed that too.

When you compare this with other stories that "Israel rejects Arab Peace Plan", and The King's little diatribe the other day, in which - if one read it all - he did not merely trash the Bushite occupation of Iraq, but also went on to trash the Israeli occupation of territories conquered in 1967, and did so in the most heartfelt way; then yeah, this all looks sort of odd.

I think the King has become annoyed about Iraq and Iran, and change is in the wind, but the question is what is he able and willing to do about it? He is not, from what one hears, as mellow a fellow as his predecessor, he is said to be someone who takes his religion seriously, always a dangerous thing in a King. Iran and Iraq are sort of natural competitors, on several grounds (religion, oil, regional hegemony, history) and Bush has disembowelled one of them, in the most expensive way, and hamstrung and gutshot the US military too, leaving Iran to run free. And this is all very destabilizing for the Saudis, who sit not easy on their thrones anyway. And of course the Salafists are constantly on at them about their failure to do anything about the I/P situation, the most degrading sort of talk.

But the fact that this piece says "Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab states" is indeed a hoot. It's like a US State Dept press release.