Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former intelligence chief of Saudi Arabia

Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former intelligence chief of Saudi Arabia, has urged Israel to accept the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which had been originally proposed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

“It was a great move on the part of Arab countries to establish peace with Israel,” Prince Turki said during a recent dialogue with former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin in Brussels.

It was a mostly amiable, hour-long conversation, marked by more agreement than disagreement as they discussed Iran, Syria, religious radicalism and the regional arms race, said a press report.

Prince Turki said the 2002 peace offer was the most explicit public Saudi declaration to date of Saudi willingness to make peace and end the conflict.

Yaldin said three-fourths of Israelis had never heard of the 2002 peace plan and asked the prince to visit Jerusalem and address the Knesset.

Prince Turki replied that it was the Israeli leadership’s job to “explain to their people what the Arab Peace Initiative is” and urged Israel to agree to enter discussions based on the proposal.

The dialogue was hosted by the Brussels-based German Marshall Fund and moderated by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.