.Saudi says Palestinian efforts in hands of Egypt
The Saudi Foreign Ministry denied reports that the kingdom has joined Egypt in the Palestinian reconciliation efforts.
A Foreign Ministry source said that the recent statements by Prince Saud al-Fisal, in both Riyadh and Cairo asserted that the reconciliation dossier is fully in the hand of the Egyptians and hoped a speedy acceptance of the Egyptian initiative to restore Palestinian unity.
Prince al-Fisal was in Egypt last week, where he held talks with President Hosni Mubarak and delivered a message from the Saudi King Abdullah bin
Abdul Aziz.
Mideast peace
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile said she was working to restart peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis "without preconditions."
"We are working with the Israelis, the (Palestinian Authority), and the Arab states to take the steps needed to re-launch the negotiations as soon as possible and without preconditions," she said.
Clinton made the comments at a joint press conference with her Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh, who is Washington for talks.
The top U.S. diplomat expressed hope that Israelis and Palestinians could agree "on an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state... and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders.
Clinton and U.S. envoy George Mitchell were later to meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Egypt and Jordan are the key Arab brokers as the only Arab countries to have made peace with Israel.
Mitchell will then leave late Sunday for Paris and Brussels for consultations with allies, including a meeting of the quartet of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, they added.
The meeting of the Middle East quartet -- which launched a roadmap for peace in 2003 calling for the creation of a Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel -- will take place in Brussels.
Mitchell is due to return to the United States before heading to the Middle East by the end of the month.
Days after entering the White House in January last year, President Barack Obama signaled that Arab-Israeli peace was a top priority.
But the effort stalled as Arab nations accused the administration of reneging on its demand that hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government completely freeze Jewish settlement construction.
Al Arabiya
A Foreign Ministry source said that the recent statements by Prince Saud al-Fisal, in both Riyadh and Cairo asserted that the reconciliation dossier is fully in the hand of the Egyptians and hoped a speedy acceptance of the Egyptian initiative to restore Palestinian unity.
Prince al-Fisal was in Egypt last week, where he held talks with President Hosni Mubarak and delivered a message from the Saudi King Abdullah bin
Abdul Aziz.
Mideast peace
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile said she was working to restart peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis "without preconditions."
"We are working with the Israelis, the (Palestinian Authority), and the Arab states to take the steps needed to re-launch the negotiations as soon as possible and without preconditions," she said.
Clinton made the comments at a joint press conference with her Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh, who is Washington for talks.
The top U.S. diplomat expressed hope that Israelis and Palestinians could agree "on an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state... and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders.
Clinton and U.S. envoy George Mitchell were later to meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Egypt and Jordan are the key Arab brokers as the only Arab countries to have made peace with Israel.
Mitchell will then leave late Sunday for Paris and Brussels for consultations with allies, including a meeting of the quartet of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, they added.
The meeting of the Middle East quartet -- which launched a roadmap for peace in 2003 calling for the creation of a Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel -- will take place in Brussels.
Mitchell is due to return to the United States before heading to the Middle East by the end of the month.
Days after entering the White House in January last year, President Barack Obama signaled that Arab-Israeli peace was a top priority.
But the effort stalled as Arab nations accused the administration of reneging on its demand that hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government completely freeze Jewish settlement construction.
Al Arabiya
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