Riyadh, November 18: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and Saudi King Abdullah agreed in talks on the need to restart Middle East peace talks, a French official said on Wednesday.
In three hours of "deep" talks late Tuesday at Abdullah's Janadiriyah desert farm, north of Riyadh, the leaders "were agreed on the need for rapid steps to relaunch the peace process," an official of the French presidency said.
King Abdullah is "on the same wavelength" as France on the need to relaunch the peace process, the official said.
Sarkozy arrived in the Saudi capital on Tuesday for an overnight stay to discuss mainly regional political issues and build a closer working relationship.
The two leaders discussed the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Iran's nuclear programme, Lebanese politics and other key issues over a three-hour meeting.
The presidency official would not comment on reports that France is offering to host a new Middle East peace conference.
But in a Saudi newspaper interview, Sarkozy said: "I told (Syrian) President (Bashar al-) Assad ... and (Israeli) Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu: France is ready to facilitate the resumption of talks, if the parties consider that we can be helpful."
Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that Israel's decision to build 900 new homes in annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem constituted a "major obstacle" to efforts to restart Middle East peace talks.
"We feel that a settlement is a major obstacle in the way of the peace process ...
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