The GCC Uranium Enrichment Proposal To Iran.

Prince Saud on Nov. 1 said: "We have proposed [to Iran] a solution, which is to create a consortium for all users of enriched uranium in the Middle East. The consortium will distribute according to needs, give each plant its own necessary amount, and ensure no use of this enriched uranium for atomic weapons". The GCC offer followed the group's decision in late 2006 to look at setting up its own civil nuclear programme. The move, a response to Iran's atomic ambitions, raised concerns of a nuclear arms race in the Gulf.

Tehran has in the past invited Western and regional powers to join it in a consortium to enrich uranium on Iranian soil, balking at any suggestion to shift all its enrichment capabilities - the most sensitive part of a nuclear programme - outside the country. Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear reactors or atomic weapons.

Although Iran found the GCC idea "interesting", said Prince Saud, it had yet to respond to it, adding: "I hope the Iranians will accept this proposal". He suggested that an enrichment plant could be created in a neutral country such as Switzerland. He said: "We urge them to look at this also from the point of view of security of the region". Iran, he added, was a "great country" which believed it had not been allowed to exercise its proper role as a leader in the region. "We encourage Iran to look for its rightful role but a leader has to look after the interests of those it is leading. Escalation that could lead to conflict would benefit no one".

The GCC proposal underlines the six states' anxiety over Tehran's nuclear stand-off, which could lead to a new military conflict in the region. Prince Saud said: "A peaceful resolution [to the nuclear dispute] is the only conceivably good result".

The Arab Peace Plan: During his European tour, King Abdullah promoted his plan for total peace between the Arabs and Israel. But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who began a tour of the Middle East with a stop in Turkey on Nov. 2-3 (see sbme-IraqSunnisNov5-07), seems to be bringing the wrong people together in Annapolis, near Washington, in late November for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

In an editorial, the FT on Nov. 1 said: "Ms Rice brings together two leaders - Israel's [PM] Ehud Olmert and the Palestinians' [President] Mahmoud Abbas - in the twilight of their political careers. They are widely ridiculed for their na?vety about the nature of their adversary. Political weakness compels the Palestinian side to demand more, and the Israeli side to surrender less. Meanwhile, they are being brought together under the aegis of a US president in the twilight of his own political career, one so burdened with Middle Eastern problems that the Arab-Israeli conflict is now his number three priority in the Middle East, after Iraq and Iran".

The FT on Nov. 1 quoted a Saudi diplomat as saying there had to be a "significant amount of agreement" displayed by Palestinians and Israelis at the planned US-sponsored meeting, reiterating that Riyadh would only attend if the conference can be successful. He urged Israel to produce a "sincere" offer, which would include an end to Jewish settlement building and a halt to construction of the security wall. But he stressed that progress on peace required reconciliation among warring Palestinian factions. He said the Arab League was working to revive a Palestinian national unity government, following the collapse of the previous administration in June and the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas with the support of Iran and Syria.