http://www.presstv.ir/detail/149747.html
'Israeli settlements obstacle to peace'
Fri Nov 5, 2010 3:47PM
Prince Turki al-Faisal
Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal has described Israel's Jewish settlement expansion and occupation as the main obstacles to peace.
Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, Prince Turki said on Thursday that as long as Tel Aviv fails to respect the Palestinian side's demand for a freeze on the expansion of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land, there will be no peace.
The new round of direct talks between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority (PA) reached a deadlock shortly after being re-launched in Washington after Israel refused to meet the PA demand for extending the partial settlement freeze in the West Bank and resumed its illegal construction work hours after the expiry of the partial 10-month moratorium.
The Saudi prince also called on Israel to accept the Arab peace initiative and pull out of all Arab land it occupied during the Six Day War and return to the 1967 borders, saying that his country will refuse "to directly or indirectly engage Israel" until it withdraws from the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and Shaba Farms.
Under the 2002 Saudi-proposed peace plan, Arab states would normalize relations with Tel Aviv only after Israel's full withdrawal from the lands it occupied in the 1967 war and agrees to a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.
"For us to take any steps toward any form of normalization with the Israeli state before these Arab lands have been returned to their rightful legitimate owners would undermine international law and turn a blind eye to immorality," Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, said on Thursday.
Prince Turki, who headed Saudi Arabia's foreign intelligence service for 24 years, is believed be a candidate to succeed his brother, Saud al-Faisal, as Saudi foreign minister.
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