Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Shimon Peres, the president of Israel, spoke against war and bloodshed at an inter-religious meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York. The initiative of the Saudi monarch was attended by heads of state and government from dozens of countries. Abdullah said the region had the choice "peace and harmony or... inevitably [will] be consumed by the flames of misunderstanding, malice and hatred".
"Throughout history, preoccupation with differences between the followers of religions and cultures has engendered intolerance, causing devastating wars and considerable bloodshed without any sound logical or ideological justification," the Saudi king told a packed General Assembly hall. "It is high time for us to learn from the harsh lessons of the past and concur on the ethics and ideals in which we all believe." Terrorism was the enemy of each and every religion and civilization, he said.
Peres and Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, endorsed Saudi Arabia's peace initiative to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The proposal, initiated by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and ratified by Arab foreign ministers last year in Damascus, offers pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in 1967.Peres also went out of his way by addressing Abdullah directly during the debate on how values of religion and peace could help settle political and armed conflicts.
Peres and Livni said in a press conference later that they "sensed" a new atmosphere and "perception of change" in the attitude of the Saudis, whose enormous influence on the Palestinians could foster a peace settlement. They said Arab countries were now speaking in a "totally different voice". Livni pointed out that "The Saudis sent an important and crucial message", but that Israel wanted to see and hear changes in rhetoric in houses of prayer and schools, where anti-Israeli sentiments remained high.
