Israeli President Shimon Peres said Thursday that the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative is an "opportunity" to bring peace to the restive Middle East region.
Peres made the remarks at a joint press conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak following their bilateral talks earlier in the day in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"Israel accepts the (spirit of) the Arab Peace Initiative that aims to bring about peace to the entire region through peaceful coexistence," the Egyptian MENA news agency quoted Peres as saying.
"Peace has never been as attainable in the past years as it is now," he said, adding that it would be a mistake to miss the opportunity.
The 2002 Saudi initiative, which has been re-endorsed by Arab League, calls for Israel's pullout from all Arab territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East War and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in return for the normalization of Arab-Israeli ties.
Israel initially rejected the set of guidelines, yet since early last year Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other officials have repeatedly referred to the plan, although with some reservations, saying that it contains interesting elements and could serve as the basis for negotiation with Arab states.
Source:Xinhua
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