Abdullah, Obama discuss Mideast

RIYADH. January 24. KAZINFORM Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah received yesterday a telephone call from US President Barack Obama. The two leaders discussed developments in the Middle East, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

On Thursday, Obama appointed George Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader, America?s Middle East envoy. Mitchell played an important role in negotiating peace in Northern Ireland with the signing of the Belfast Peace Agreement in 1998. In his first presidential address, Obama sent an immediate message to the world, particularly Muslims, that he would seek a new way forward based on mutual interest and mutual respect. Concerned about the sufferings of the Palestinians under attack by Israeli forces, King Abdullah on Monday warned that the Arab Peace Initiative would not be on the table forever. The Arab Peace Initiative ? proposed by King Abdullah and adopted by the Beirut Arab League Summit in 2002 ? calls on Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied in 1967 in return for diplomatic relations with Arab states, Kazinform refers to the Arab News.