Google news - ISRAEL has ramped up its support for the Saudi-sponsored plan to end its six-decade conflict with the Palestinians, describing this week's summit as the start of a "revolutionary" change in thinking in the Arab world.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday praised the Saudi initiative and said the region now realised that the existing Middle East order faced significant threat from other conflicts, such as the standoff with Iran.
He renewed a call he made this week for direct talks with Saudi leaders and other Arab states that backed the peace bid.
At the same time, Defence Minister Amir Peretz warned that Israel must not be seen as the party that rejected the plan, tabled by 14 Arab leaders in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Its centrepieces were two issues Israel had previously rejected: a return to the pre-1967 war borders and the more significant sticking point of the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to lands they inhabited before the state of Israel was formed.
"The Middle East is going through a serious change, which has been sharpened since the Second Lebanon War," Mr Olmert said. "This process has brought about a change in the Arab frame of mind.
"Israel is no longer considered their biggest problem. This is a revolutionary thought.
"We are not deluding ourselves: they want us to return to the 1967 borders and implement the right of return. This did not surprise us ... Saudi Arabia is the country that will eventually determine Arabs' ability to reach a compromise with Israel. Its willingness to lead and intervene is very interesting."
Mr Peretz said the plan was "an important initiative", and warned that it would be "a mistake" for Israel "to ignore it and leave the arena for others".
Arab leaders urged Israel not to forsake the opportunities the summit offered it. "I reiterate the sincerity of the Palestinian will in extending the hand of peace to the Israeli people," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We should not waste more chances in the history of this long and painful cause."
Saudi Arabia warned of dire consequences if peace were not embraced. Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Israel would subject "not only the region but itself to dangers with unpredictable repercussions" if it ignored the offers.
The push for peace has been widely viewed as an attempt by Saudi Arabia to shore up its position as the pre-eminent power-broker among the Sunni Arab world in the face of a perceived threat from the Shia Islamic Iranian regime.