CAIRO: Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, decided yesterday to attend next week's US-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. However, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal insisted he would not allow "theatrics" like handshakes with Israeli officials, saying the gathering must make serious progress.
The US welcomed the decision to send their foreign ministers to Tuesday's conference.
"We welcome the Arab League decision. This is a signal that they believe this will be a serious and substantive meeting," State Depart-ment spokesman Karl Duckworth said.
Participation by Saudi Arabia was a key goal of the United States to show strong Arab support for the conference, aimed at relaunching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks for the first time in seven years.
Until yesterday, the kingdom had balked at saying whether it would attend and at what level, seeking assurances Israel would negotiate the most difficult issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict in negotiations governed by a timetable.
Prince Saud told a Press conference that an Arab League meeting yesterday had decided that Arab countries will attend the forum.
"I'm not hiding any secret about the Saudi position. We were reluctant until today. And if not for the Arab consensus we felt today, we would not have decided to go," he said. "But the kingdom would never stand against an Arab consensus and as long as the Arab position has agreed on attending, the kingdom will walk along with its brothers in one line." But he cautioned, "We are not prepared to take part in a theatrical show, in handshakes and meeting that don't express political positions. We are going with seriousness and we work on the same seriousness and credibility."
Israel welcomed the news that Prince Saud would attend, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev calling it a "positive development."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has held a series of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in an attempt to draw up a joint document for the US meeting, urged the ministers to seize the "historic opportunity."
But some Arab states are sceptical about the chances of any concrete developments at Annapolis, and opinion polls published this week showed that most Israelis and Palestinians do not think it will succeed.
Saudi participation on Tuesday could bolster Abbas's ability to reach an agreement and help Olmert sell it to Israelis, by holding out the prospect of wider peace with the Arab world.
