Arab peace plan

   Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said Israel sees the "initiative as interesting and as the possible basis for a dialogue. We're not being more specific than that because we need to really sit down and study it." Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas warned called today for an international conference on achieving peace. "We hope our summit would result in the formation of an Arab committee headed by the Saudi Arabian monarchy, the head of the summit, to follow up implementation of the Arab initiative," he said, referring to an Arab land-for-peace proposal. Abbas called for a "negotiated settlement that will be sponsored by the international community and within the framework of an international peace conference in the region." Deputy prime minister Shimon Peres says Israel cannot accept the 2002 Arab League peace initiative that is expected to be endorsed Thursday at the Arab League summit in Riyadh. Peres told Kol Yisrael that negotiations are needed on the peace plan that offers full normalization with Arab states in return for Israel withdrawing to the 1967 pre-war border, the Green Line. He said , "Neither the Arabs nor the Palestinians can achieve a solution through a diktat , and there is no alternative to negotiations." Also, Israel hold direct talks on peace with Arab states, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Thursday after Arab leaders renewed a peace offer first drafted by Saudi Arabia in 2002. "Let's sit together as we are supposed to and work on it as we did before with Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians," he told Al Jazeera television in remarks dubbed in Arabic, but he did not say if Israel accepts or rejects the Arab bid, media reported.(21,22)