Date :30 Dec 2009
President Mahmoud Abbas held talks on the sputtering Middle East Peace process with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz on Tuesday in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia’s official SPA news agency reported that the meeting addressed “developments of the Palestinian cause and the stalled peace process in addition to the need for the international community to carry out its duties toward reaching a just and comprehensive solution in the region.”

Abbas was joined in the meeting by chief negotiator Saeb Erkeat, Fatah’s parliamentary leader Azzam Al-Ahmad, and other officials.

Saudi Arabia is the mains sponsor of the Arab Peace initiative, which offers Israel full diplomatic relations with Arab states in return for a withdrawal to the June 1967 borders.

The French news agency AFP reported on Monday that the United States is drafting two "letters of guarantee" for Palestinians and Israelis to serve as the basis for relaunching peace talks.

"US special envoy George Mitchell will present two draft letters of guarantee, one for Israel and one to the Palestinian Authority during his next visit to the region," the news agency quoted an Arab diplomat as saying.

The PLO called off peace talks with Israel in the wake of its devastating winter assault on Gaza that killed some 1,400 people in three weeks. Palestinian officials say they won't return to negotiations until Israel fully freezes settlements built on Palestinian land.

On Monday, the US announced its opposition to Israel's announcement of a plan to build nearly 700 new settlement units in and around East Jerusalem.