JERUSALEM - An Israeli cabinet minister from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party said Wednesday that the Jewish state should accept a Saudi peace initiative to solve the conflict with the Palestinians.
"We should take the bull by the horns and, when I say that, I mean we should accept the moderate (Arab) countries' initiative, the Saudi initiative," Justice and Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit said.
He said Israel would be willing to withdraw from Arab territory occupied ever since the 1967 Middle East war, as stipulated in the Saudi blueprint, in exchange for a "complete peace".
"If we are talking about overall peace, if we want overall peace, we are compelled to accept all the elements of the initiative and withdraw to the 1967 borders," the minister added.
"Israel should set the agenda on the Palestinian question... and tell the Saudis, come and talk about your initiative," Sheetrit said.
"We should invite (Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas) Abu Mazen for face to face talks," he said, emphasising Israel was "ready to make significant compromises to draw its permanent borders".
Recent reports in Israel -- denied in Riyad -- have mentioned secret talks between Israeli and Saudi officials, with Olmert leaving it understood he had met a member of the kingdom's royal family.
But last week, the prime minister said the Saudi initiative, adopted by the Arab League in 2002, did not constitute a basis for negotiations.
Under the plan, the Arab world would normalise relations with Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal from land occupied since 1967 and a negotiated solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.
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