Abbas calls on Obama to implement Arab peace plan

NABLUS, West Bank -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday urged Barack Obama to get involved in Mideast peacemaking efforts immediately after becoming the U.S. president in January.

Abbas, who spoke at an economic conference in the West Bank town of Nablus, also asked Obama to endorse a pan-Arab peace initiative that offers full peace with Israel in return for its withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza and parts of Jerusalem.

The "Arab Peace Initiative" was first proposed in 2002 by dozens of Arab countries that do not have ties with Israel. It requires Israel to leave the lands it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

"We ask Obama to become immediately involved in the peace process, and to adopt the Arab initiative," Abbas said.

Abbas' call to Obama came after he appealed directly to Israelis by taking out full-page Hebrew-language newspaper ads Thursday that said the Arab initiative would bring peace to the region.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the chief negotiator with the Palestinians over the past year, has welcomed the plan as a positive gesture but says its positions on key issues such as final borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees are unacceptable.

"Instead of living in an island of peace it will live in an ocean of peace," he said.

However, a year of negotiations between Palestinians and Israel has not brought tangible results.

Abbas said Saturday that Israel's actions, such as continued construction of settlements and the West Bank separation barrier, contradict Israel's declared willingness to make peace.

"These acts truly make one wonder whether they [the Israelis] mean peace or not," he said. "Those who want peace don't do this. They don't build a wall or a settlement in our throats ... We are ready to stretch out our hands in peace, but all of these acts leave hatred in one's soul."