Fingers Crossed

The two Arab countries with ties to Israel have paid an historic visit to the Jewish state to "extend the hand of peace" on behalf of their fellow Arabs.

The Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers' visit was to present a peace plan backed by the Arab League, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel.

The proposal envisages the recognition of Israel if it leaves occupied Palestinian land.

Israel's prime minister has said the Arab plan contains positive elements.

"We are extending a hand of peace on behalf of the whole region to you, and we hope that we will be able to create the momentum needed to resume fruitful and productive negotiations," said Jordan's Abdulelah Khatib.

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have not seen progress for seven years, a period in which more than 5,000 people have died in violence, the large majority of them Palestinians.

Mr Khatib said Israel needed to agree on a precise timetable "not to waste this historic opportunity".

The visit comes a day after the maiden mission of new envoy Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, and is part of a flurry of diplomatic efforts.

Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties with Israel and have sent many delegations there.

The initiative offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from territory it occupied in 1967, the creation of a Palestinian state and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there was "a chance in the near future for the process to ripen into talks that would, in effect, deal with the stages of establishing a Palestinian state".

Full story available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6915976.stm

With all of the awful news that comes out of the region it's nice to see some small bit of positive movement toward peace. I don't necessarily have a lot of hope that the Arab League can broker a deal with Israel on its own, but that would be an amazing turn of events. Two things that I enjoy about this plan: 1) It would simultaneously normalize relations between Israel and Arab states and end Israel's occupation of the West Bank. 2) It would be a major step toward regional peace that occurred (mostly) without the interference of Western powers.