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Sharon ready to discuss Mideast peace plan BY STEVE WEIZMAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told an EU envoy Tuesday he was willing to meet Saudi officials, publicly or behind the scenes, to explore their pro posals for an overall Mideast peace, tfie European diplomat said. The proposals floated by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah have got ten a warm response from the Palestinians, some Arab nations and some Israeli officials — in cluding the foreign and defense ministers. Sharon’s aides, howev er, say they want more details. Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, an nounced that he was making a pre viously unschec uled trip to Riyadl on Wednesday t hear details of th Saudi peace plai firsthand fror Abdullah. ^resident bus Sharon “praised the idea, White Hous spokesman Ari Fleischer saf Tuesday, but he said the Saud prince’s proposal was not a breal through. Israeli officials said at this poin the initiative had not formall; been placed on the table by th Saudis. The outlines of the plai were first disclosed in a column n The New York Times by Thoma Friedman after an interview wit] Abdullah in Saudi Arabia. 1 According to the Friedman re ) port, the entire Arab world would 3 make peace with the Jewish state 1 if it withdrew from the West Bank, i Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — land captured in the 1967 Mideast l War. Palestinians have endorsed the 3 - Saudi initiative, saying that it fits 1 their policy of offering Israel full i peace for full withdrawal. Solana said Sharon told him he “would be willing to meet anybody :, from Saudi Arabia, formally, in r formally, publicly, discreetly, > whatever, to get better information i about the significance of this idea. ” i Saudi Arabia has not com > mented on the reaction to the pro i posals. The state-run newspaper I * Al-Watan, which usually reflects government thinking, said nc Israeli-Saudi visits could tak< place until a Mideast peace agree ment had been reached. Bush telephoned the Saud crown prince Tuesday to express U.S. hopes of working with hin “in the pursuit of Middle Eas peace,” said Fleischer. However, Fleischer appearec to question the plan’s bottom line “It’s important to have a vision o: what peace should look like at the end of the day,” he said, “but it’s a long time until the end of the day in the Middle East.” The Bush administration alsc stood by its own formula for re opening Mideast peace talks, which includes a hoped-for cease-fire be ' tween Israel and the Palestinians to be followed by peacemaking ef forts recommended by a panel headed by former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell. “It doesn’t, in and of itself, change anything on the ground in the Middle East,” Fleischer said of Abdullah’s land-for-peace proposition. “The situation re mains a very complicated situa tion and a very violent one.” In an attempt to address the more immediate concern — bringing calm after 17 months of violence — Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs resumed talks Tuesday on measures to stop vio lence and ease Israeli restrictions over Palestinian territory. 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