Initiated by Akiva Eldar, our colleague from Al-Monitor, and organized by the Israeli daily Haaretz, the “Israel Conference on Peace” opened the morning of July 8.

In honor of the event, the newspaper published a special column written by US President Barack Obama. “Peace is necessary, just, and possible,” he wrote. “True safety will only come with a comprehensive negotiated settlement,” he asserted. The American president dispatched his Middle East adviser, Phil Gordon, to the Haaretz-sponsored conference.

A few hours earlier, on Monday evening, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal also published a column in that paper, in which he asserted that the “Arab Peace Initiative still provides a template for peace.” He called on the Israeli people and their leaders to accept it, to turn the entire region into a blooming garden of cooperation and brotherhood, instead of being a place of wars and hatred.

Having served as his country’s intelligence chief, Turki also served as the Saudi ambassador to some European countries and as the ambassador to the United States, the most prestigious position fathomable in Saudi Arabia. He is said to be the axis linking Saudis and Israelis, having fostered secret ties with his Israeli counterparts over many years.