Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will begin laying the ground for a Mideast peace conference in a visit to Israel on Wednesday, hoping to push Israelis and Palestinians closer to renewing talks.Building on warming ties between Israel and moderate Arab countries, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said that Israel hopes "many Arab countries will attend this international meeting, including Saudi Arabia."
The statement came in reaction to an announcement Wednesday by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal that his country would seriously consider attending the gathering if invited. Speaking at a press conference with Rice and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Saud said his government would "look very closely and very hard at attending" if the conference dealt with "issues of real substance, not form."
A meeting between Israeli and Saudi representatives would be a major diplomatic breakthrough. Though Israel and Saudi Arabia are both U.S. allies, representatives of the countries have never officially met and Saudi Arabia has never recognized the Jewish state.
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