Saudi peace plan founders as the body count soars

Another day, another funeral ... Israeli police at the grave of fellow officer Moshe Dayan, who was killed by a sniper near the Jewish settlement of Qedar, on the West Bank, at the weekend. Photo: AFP
It is the only Middle East offer on the table, but the United States is still stepping warily, writes Gay Alcorn from Washington.


The United States responded warily at first to Saudi Arabia's Middle East peace plan, saying that it was not new and lacked specifics. The Secretary of State, Colin Powell, called it a "minor development".

Then, as the only glimmer of hope in the latest bloodbath, Crown Prince Abdullah's "vision" - an offer to Israel for normalised relations with Arab nations in exchange for withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights - was welcomed more enthusiastically at the White House.