| Oil-rich monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) backed peaceful 'coexistence' between the Arabs and Israel at a meeting of their foreign ministers in Riyadh. In a statement issued at the end of the talks, the ministers hailed the land-for-peace proposal of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and pledged to strive to muster the support of the international community for the offer. The GCC chief diplomats said they would lobby the UN Security Council, the United States, the European Union and Russia to 'preserve the chances of peace and stop the bloodshed and devastation' of the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But Arab diplomats said in Cairo on Sunday that Riyadh had agreed to a Syrian request during an Arab foreign ministers meeting in the Egyptian capital to offer 'full peace,' rather than normalization, in exchange for withdrawal. |