RIYADH, Jan 22 (News Agencies) - The Saudi government on Monday urged new U.S. President George W. Bush to put pressure on Israel to accept a peace settlement that guarantees the rights of the Palestinians.
The cabinet, in a weekly meeting chaired by King Fahd, congratulated Bush and underlined "the links of friendship and historic relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States," the official news agency SPA reported.
It called for the Bush administration "to press the Israeli side to implement international resolutions, stop procrastinating, lift the blockade and put a halt to the bloodshed taking place on a daily basis before the eyes of the world."
The cabinet voiced confidence that Washington would press ahead with efforts "to guarantee the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."
Saudi Arabia was critical of Washington's policy under former president Bill Clinton following the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence at the end of September and the breakdown of the U.S.-brokered Middle East peace process.
