THE SAUDI OFFER

Secretary of State Colin Powell needed several days of being asked last month before he was even tepid about the Saudi peace plan for the Middle East. But the plan, if as advertised initially, is simply a restatement of U.N. Resolution 242 and the basis of the Oslo peace process previously supported by the United States: Normalized relations with Israel in exchange for its reversion to its pre-1967 border. Strong U.S. support for the plan before the Arab League Summit next week could give the plan the momentum it needs and prevent it from being watered down at the summit. As Margaret Thatcher once said to the senior George Bush about another Middle East conflict, this is no time to go wobbly.

The United States seems to be moving in the right direction after the U.N. Security Council vote this week formally endorsing the idea of a Palestinian state. The vote was led by John D. Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and came despite many years of Israeli resistance to involvement by the Security Council. But the United States can go further.

The Saudi crown prince and leader, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, told New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in mid-February that he was planning to offer the peace plan at the summit. The intensified war and increased number of killings in Palestinian refugee camps have made peace seem much farther away and the proposal much more important. The details of whatever proposal emerges from the summit matter greatly, but international support for Prince Abdul’s mid-February comments could establish expectations that will make anything less than that proposal seem too little.

Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has limited his comments on the question but seems neither trusting nor willing to seriously consider the offer. With news of an Arab willingness to accept redrawing of the ’67 lines to enable Israel to annex some areas on the West Bank and give it control of the Western Wall and of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, there is a lot to discuss. It seems like the opportunity for which Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has been waiting.

Mr. Friedman raises an appropriate warning in a column this week. He points out that in Cairo recently a Saudi official reiterated the Prince Abdullah’s offer but substituted “full peace” for “full normalization,” a change that might seem slight but could also mean the difference of simply the absence of war vs. the presence of trade, travel, government interaction and all the other activity that goes with normal relations. It is impossible to know what specific language could be included in a peace plan until the two sides sit down again to negotiate.

Approximately 160 Palestinians and 60 Israelis have been killed in the past two weeks. Many hundreds more could be killed in the coming weeks if the current escalation continues, and yet the grounds for resolution remain a land-for-recognition deal that is well understood in the region in all but its smallest details. The alternative is more and more killing.