EU official to discuss Mideast peace plan in Saudi Arabia

The European Union's Javier Solana will travel Wednesday to Saudi Arabia to discuss a peace plan for the Mideast.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet Wednesday with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to discuss a Saudi proposal for ending the crisis in the Middle East, an aide said Tuesday.

Abdullah has told The New York Times that his proposal includes recognition of Israel and full normalization of ties with the Arab world in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories to borders that existed before the 1967 Six Day War.

Israeli officials have called the development "promising."

Solana met Monday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah and then met Tuesday with Israeli officials.

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Solana will fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, said Cristina Gallach, his spokeswoman. From there, he will travel to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and then to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah.

After talks Monday with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Piquet, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged that he had a phone conversation with the Saudi crown prince.

He said he wanted to flesh out the Saudi ideas in greater detail and said the United States wants to make sure there is a common understanding before moving forward on the matter.

The crown prince's proposal has caught the attention of Israeli officials. On Monday, Israeli President Moshe Katsav invited Abdullah to Jerusalem and suggested he would go to Saudi Arabia, if invited, to get more details.

Aides to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have described the proposal as a "positive trend" and said Sharon is waiting for more details from the United States.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday that President Bush "welcomes the thoughts of Arab leaders who want to contribute" to the peace process.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the developments a "positive" step.

Israel has occupied the West Bank and Gaza since the Six Day War but began granting Palestinians limited self-rule in 1993 under the Oslo accords. The territory controlled by Arafat's Palestinian Authority remains dispersed and intersected by Israeli civilian and military installations.

Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states that formally recognize Israel.