A delegation from the Arab League made a historic visit to Israel on Wednesday to present its own Middle East peace initiative.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, shakes hands with Jordan's foreign minister, Abdul-Ilah Khatib, as Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, looks on in Jerusalem Wednesday.
(Oded Balilty/Associated Press)

The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, the first delegation the 22-member group has sent to the Jewish state, formally presented the Arab League's proposal for peace between Israel and Palestinians in Jerusalem.

The proposal, originally presented in 2002 and rejected by the Jewish state, extends an offer from all Arab countries to recognize Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from land captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

"This serious offer constitutes a major opportunity of historical levels," Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Ilah Khatib said. "It will provide Israel with the security, recognition and acceptance in this region which Israel has long aspired to."

Currently, Egypt and Jordan are the only two nations in the league that recognize Israel. The Arab body refused to recognize Israel after the creation of the Jewish state in 1948 and suspended Egypt in 1979 for a decade when it became the first Arab state to make peace.

The Arab League endorsed the plan again in March over concerns about Iran's growing influence. Sharing this concern, Israel has softened its resistance to the peace proposal.

Israel has welcomed the plan as a basis for negotiations, but has said that certain parts are unacceptable, including a full withdrawal and the return of Palestinians who became refugees in 1948.

The country said it hopes to retain areas heavily populated by Israelis and that a large-scale influx of refugees — which the UN estimates at 4.4 million — would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state.

Israel also said it will accept the creation of a Palestinian state, but opposes handing over any part of Jerusalem. The Arab League said east Jerusalem should be the capital of an independent Palestine.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the way forward was to find points of agreement between Israel and the Arab world while seeking a bilateral solution to core issues such as the refugees and the status of Jerusalem.

"I think it would be a mistake today … to start arguing about every clause" of the plan, she said. Livni added that there were points of agreement.

"I am happy to say that after hearing our criticisms they said [the plan] is not an ultimatum, it's not 'take it or leave it," said Yuval Steinitz of the opposition Likud Party.

Both sides acknowledged that the Arab League peace proposal cannot bypass direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

"We are not being asked to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said. "We will be helping both the Palestinians and the Israelis to negotiate among themselves."

He added that the negotiations could take time, "I don't expect that we shall see a Palestinian state established tomorrow."

The delegates will report back to the Arab League on Monday.

"We hope that upon our return, we would also convey to the Arab League … the responses of Israel and I hope that such responses will be positive," he said.

The presentation comes a day after the new international envoy to the Middle East, Tony Blair, spoke of a "sense of possibility" in the region, but warned against hopes for an immediate breakthrough in peace negotiations that have been stalled since 2000.

Palestinians stranded at closed border crossing

Meanwhile, some 6,000 Palestinians expressed their frustration at being stuck for more than a month at the closed Rafah border crossing in Egypt, surviving on Red Crescent handouts as they wait to return to an increasingly isolated and impoverished Gaza.

Many were in the country to visit relatives or seek medical treatment and have been unable to return home since early June, when fighting broke out between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.

Anandi Younis told CBC News that she came to Egypt to take her youngest son to the doctor, only to find herself stranded just a few kilometres away from home.

"We tell the Arab nations, 'We don't want your aid; we just want to go home to our children,' " she said.

Rafah was the major crossing between Gaza and Egypt. The European Union and Palestinian Authorities were jointly in charge of monitoring the border, but the Europeans fled when violence broke out in June, causing Egypt to shut the border down.

But after 45 days of spotty aid and inadequate food, frustrated Palestinians like Ibrahim Awad said they could take matters into their own hands.

"Today, we are silent, but soon the situation will explode and we will throw ourselves onto the border," he said. "They can fire at us all they want. We want to go home."

With files from the Associated Press