Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal has urged the new US administration to pressure Israel to reach peace by granting the just rights of the Palestinian people. Addressing a foreign ministers' meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference here Saturday, he called on Arab countries and the Palestinians to unite in confronting the challenges they face at the hands of the Israeli enemy. “The Arab League is exerting efforts to criminalize Israel for the crimes it committed during its aggression in the Gaza Strip and to stop the hostilities practiced against the Palestinian people, especially in the city of occupied Al-Quds,” Prince Saud said. He described the speech delivered by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad as good and comprehensive focusing on the results. “The speech of President Al-Assad should be a course paper for the conference and we should implement his advises and take measures that guarantee our interests and protect our homelands. These are all good goals and endeavors,” the Saudi foreign minister said. Earlier Saturday, Syrian leader said that Israel poses the “greatest obstacle” to Mideast peace and warned that a failure of negotiations would open the way for more resistance in occupied lands. He said peace must include regaining Arab territories held by Israel. Al-Assad said Syria continues to consider peace as a “strategic goal that must be reached one day,” and he blamed Israel for the lack of progress since the launching of the internationally sponsored peace process in the early 1990s. “The failure of the process so far showed blatantly that Israel is the greatest obstacle facing the hoped for peace,” he said. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Syria Saturday for talks with President Bashar Al-Assad on Moscow's plan for a Middle East conference, a Russian diplomat said. On Saturday night, he met Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based leader of Hamas, a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist movement said without giving details. Lavrov and Al-Assad are due to meet on Sunday, the Russian diplomat said.
