Saudi Arabia to US: It is Israel's Move (However You Report It)

For the Associated Press, Saudi Arabia's rejection of a  US request that it establish ties with Israel was pretty cold-blooded. 
 
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said "bluntly" that his Government was "not interested" until Israel withdrew to 1967 borders, while SoS Hillary Clinton "looked on" during the joint news conference.

Mina Al Orabi offers a much different framing in the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. Saud al Faisal "was keen to express Saudi Arabia’s 'thanks and appreciation to President Obama and to Secretary Clinton for their early  and robust focus on trying to bring peace to the Middle East'.... However, he  also indicated that 'Israel must decide if it wants real peace, which is at hand, or if it wants to continue obstructing and, as a result, leading the region towards instability and violence.'"

Saud got to the heart of the preference of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on specific economic and security matters rather than a broad two-state settlement: “Today, Israel is trying to distract by shifting attention from the core issue – an end to the occupation that began in 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state --- towards incidental issues such as academic conferences and civil aviation matters. This is not the way to peace.”

For Saud, “The question is not what the Arab world will offer....The question really is: what will Israel give in exchange for this comprehensive offer?"

Asharq al-Awsat also made clear that Secretary of State Clinton was far from mute. She diplomatically restated that the Obama Administration “is committed to comprehensive peace in the region,” and expressed thanks to “the Prince for the leadership that King Abdullah and his government has shown by championing the Arab Peace Initiative".

The Associated Press may want to portray the Saudis as the intransigent obstacles to peace. After all, more than 200 US Congressmen/women have signed a letter to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah "calling for precisely the measures that Saud rejected and chastising the country for its stance". 

The fact beyond the framing remains, however, that all movement is suspended without a substantive response from Tel Aviv. And if the rumoured White House spin is true --- President Obama will announce a "Middle East plan" after his meeting with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak on 17 August --- that response better come soon.