Saudi Arabia blames Israel for disagreement over Jerusalem

Abdullah at the U.N. Millennium Summit

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- Saudi Arabia, ignoring U.S. appeals that Arab states be flexible on Arab East Jerusalem, accused Israel on Wednesday of intransigence, and said the Moslem holy sites in Jerusalem should be sovereign Palestinian territory.

"Tolerance cannot go hand in hand with aggression and occupation," Crown Prince Abdullah said at the U.N. Millennium Summit.

"There exists a continuing conflict ... to restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and to assure the return of the holy places in the holy city of Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty, that has been infringed upon and continues to be violated," he added.

In a longer printed version of the speech, truncated to fit a five-minute time limit, Abdullah blamed Israel for the failure of the Camp David summit in July, when U.S. President Bill Clinton tried to broker a deal between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

The dispute over Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967, was the main obstacle to an agreement.

"The failure of Camp David is attributable to the attempts of Israel to overlook two basic facts related to the core and essence of the peace process," he said.

"First, the Holy City of Jerusalem, al-Quds, which is part and parcel of the Arab territories occupied in 1967 and is subject to Security Council Resolution 242," he added.

Resolution 242, passed after the Middle East war of 1967, demanded Israeli withdrawal from land it had captured. Arabs say it means all the land, Israel says that it means some land.

Abdullah said the second fact was the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, denied by Israel since the division of the mandated territory of Palestine in 1948.

The crown prince also blamed Israel for the stalemate in attempts to negotiate a peace agreement between Israel and Syria. The last direct talks took place in January.

"We can find no explanation for its faltering except for the continued intransigence of the Israeli government and its lack of interest in meeting the requirements of the peace process, that necessitates Israel's withdrawal to the June 4 (1967) lines," he said.

Clinton, who will have separate talks with Barak and Arafat in New York later on Wednesday for the first time since Camp David, asked the leaders gathered at the U.N. summit to help Israelis and Palestinians make a deal.

"Let me say to all of you: they need your support now more than ever to take the hard risks for peace," he said.

The United States initially blamed Arafat for the failure to clinch a deal at Camp David, saying he walked away from the best offer Israel has ever made.

In diplomatic contacts in the past weeks, it has tried to persuade Arab states not to make statements which obstruct a compromise which falls short of meeting the Palestinians' traditional demand for all of East Jerusalem.

Abdullah said Saudi Arabia was also "very concerned" that Israel continues to refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which leaves its nuclear programme outside international supervision.

Israel is widely believed to have at least 100 nuclear warheads but Israeli officials refuse to comment on this.

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