Saudi king seeks Obama action on Mideast peace

Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:23pm GMT

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By Ulf Laessing

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah will press U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington this week to take a stronger stance with Israel over stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, analysts and diplomats said.

The Saudi monarch will meet Obama on Tuesday after attending a G20 summit in Canada in the latest summit in the seven decades-old relationship between Washington and the world's top oil exporter and a key regional ally.

The Saudis say Obama has not put enough pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose a total freeze on Jewish settlements on occupied Arab land, an obstacle to the resumption of peace talks. Netanyahu meets Obama on July 6.

"The king wants to have from Obama the assurance that he is going to solve the (Middle East peace) issue," said Khaled Al-Maeena, editor of the Saudi daily Arab News and a member of the king's delegation.

In a landmark speech in Cairo last year, Obama promised to turn a new page with the Islamic world after the United States' image took a battering due to the previous administration's invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and solid backing for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.

"I think it's time for the Saudis and all Arabs to tell the Americans that the situation cannot go on forever with the so-called peace process," said Khaled al-Dakhil, a Saudi political analyst.

Last year Obama revived a long-standing U.S. request for Saudi Arabia to make gestures towards normalising relations with Israel as an incentive to the Jewish state to take up serious negotiations over establishing a Palestinian state.

But Saudi Arabia said it would not make concessions beyond the 2002 Arab peace plan originated by King Abdullah, which offers Israel recognition in return for returning occupied territories and allowing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Continued...

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<p>U.S. President Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah wave during a group photo at the G20 Summit in Toronto, Ontario, June 27, 2010. REUTERS/Charles Dharapak/Pool</p>

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