Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, plummeting in the polls and facing a Palestinian government he perceives as hostile, said Thursday that Israel was willing to make "extensive, painful and tough concessions" to encourage dialogue with its enemies.

A dormant Saudi Arabian plan for a comprehensive Mideast peace which Israel initially rejected out of hand could be a "convenient basis" for contacts between Israel and Arab moderates, Olmert told a conference of kibbutz volunteers in Tel Aviv.

"The Saudi initiative is interesting, and has many sections that I would be willing to accept though, predictably, not all of them and it could certainly be a convenient basis for continued dialogue between us and Arab moderates," Olmert said.

The Saudi plan calls for full diplomatic relations between the entire Arab world and the Jewish state in exchange for full Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Middle East War. Israel dismissed it outright when it was first proposed in 2002, then hardened its opposition after the Arab League tacked on an addendum endorsing the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to homes in Israel.

But with recent meetings between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yielding sparse results, Israel has begun showing tentative interest in the plan. Arab countries are expected to revive the proposal at a summit later this month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The push to reinvigorate the Saudi plan comes at a time when many moderate Arab governments are worried about rising tensions in the region and view progress on the Palestinian-Israeli issue as a way to defuse frictions and blunt Iran's growing influence.

"This government won't miss a single opportunity to engage our enemies in dialogue," Olmert said. "It is ready to make extensive, painful and difficult concessions to encourage such dialogue."

A regional peace plan on the Saudi model could offer Olmert an alternative vehicle for peacemaking now that he's ruled out bilateral peace talks with the Palestinians.

Israel has said it will have nothing to do with the new Palestinian governing alliance of Islamic Hamas militants and Abbas' more moderate Fatah because it doesn't recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, and hasn't committed to disarming.

Talks with Abbas, Olmert has said, are to be limited to humanitarian issues.

Palestinians say recognition of Israel is implicit, and Abbas has said the deal, negotiated last month in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, was the best he could get from Hamas.

After the Olmert speech, Abbas confidant Saeb Erekat invited the prime minister to partner with the Palestinian president "in launching a genuine peace process."

"I think the Saudi Arabian initiative is the most strategic and most important initiative that came from the Arab world since 1948," Erekat said. "I hope the Israelis will accept these invitations and be our partner in peace."

Progress on the peace front would also give Olmert a much-needed boost at home.

(China Daily via agencies March 23, 2007)