MIDDLE EAST The US push for Middle East peace is coming under increasing strain on all sides, in spite of a flurry of diplomacy and a personal intervention by President Barack Obama.
Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, capped off a week of top-level meetings by attacking an idea central to Washington’s drive – the call for Arab concessions to Israel. The US argues that, together with an Israeli freeze on settlements in occupied territories, Arab “confidence-building” measures would help pave the way to final negotiations.
