Asharq Alawsat carries this Associated Press report on Saudi intentions to attend a US-sponsored Middle East Peace Conference aimed at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saudi Arabia has never attended formal meetings with Israel present (excepting the UN and perhaps the Olympics), so this is a major development on the Saudi part. Saudi presence alone won’t make the conference a success, of course, but it might put pressure on the participants to focus on the reality of what might be achievable, not only what is desirable.

Saudi Arabia to Attend Peace Conference

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, (AP) -Saudi Arabia will attend a Middle East peace conference proposed by President Bush for later this year, the Saudi foreign minister said Wednesday.

“We are interested in the peace conference,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said at a joint news conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“When we get an invitation from the minister (Rice) to attend, when this takes place, we will discuss it and we will make sure that we attend” the conference, al-Faisal said.

See, too, this piece from the BBC: Saudis back US Middle East plans