Saudi Arabia challenges Israel on peace

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 28 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said in Riyadh Wednesday if Israel rejects a revised Arab peace initiative it could only mean Israel has no desire for peace.

Saud al-Faisal made the remarks at the Arab League summit, convened for two days to revive a 5-year-old stalled peace plan with Israel, Haaretz reported.

"If Israel refuses, that means it doesn't want peace. Then (the conflict) goes back into the hands of the lords of war," Faisal said.

The 2002 initiative under discussion calls for Israel to return Arab land captured in the 1967 war, allow exiled Palestinians to reclaim their homes and to make East Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state.

However, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Tuesday that unless the reference to the right of Palestinians to return is rephrased to allow the refugees to be settled outside Israel with compensation from the Israeli government, the plan cannot be a starting point for serious negotiations.