If at first you don't succeed, try try again. That's the sentiment out of London these days, where one of the most prominent members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family is attempting to rescuscitate the Kingdom's moribund plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. At a "track two" diplomatic conference just convened by the Oxford Group, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Kingdom's former intelligence czar and envoy to the U.S., outlined a peace plan under which Israel would "accept peace as a strategic choice … withdraw completely from all the lands they occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem … accept a just solution for the refugee problem … and recognize the independent state of Palestine."
Those terms are not new. They are the cornerstones of the peace initiative put on the table by then-Crown Prince Abdullah at the 2002 Beirut Arab Summit. Back then, however, they were seen more or less as non-starters by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Times have apparently changed, though. According to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, officials in his government - once incredulous - are now seriously considering the proposal, and that an Israeli counteroffer could be in the works. "There is definitely room to introduce a comprehensive Israeli plan to counter the Saudi plan that would be the basis for a discussion on overall regional peace," Barak has said in a radio interview.
UPDATE: Officials in Jerusalem now appear to be backing away from the Saudi plan. "Whenever the process stalls, there will be those who will pull out the Saudi plan," one senior official has told the Jerusalem Post. "And the Saudis have an interest in pushing this out there now, to put on a 'constructive face' with which to greet the new US president."