President Bush has welcomed a Saudi initiative for Middle East peace, and a top European Union official plans a Saudi visit to discuss the plan.

President Bush thanked Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah for the initiative in a telephone call Tuesday. A White House spokesman says Mr. Bush praised the crown prince's ideas regarding full Arab-Israeli normalization once a comprehensive peace agreement has been reached.

E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana will make an unscheduled visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss the initiative, cutting short his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. An E.U. official says Mr. Solana decided to go to Jeddah after getting very positive responses to the Saudi proposal from the Palestinians and some Israeli officials.

Mr. Solana says Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is ready to meet anybody from Saudi Arabia to get more information about the initiative.

The Saudi crown prince floated a proposal in The New York Times last week offering Arab diplomatic recognition of Israel and normal relations if it withdraws from all land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. The crown prince said he was withholding formal presentation of the plan because of recent Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer says the Saudi plan contains positive elements and should be encouraged.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, during talks in France, hailed the Saudi initiative as a positive development. He said Saudi Arabia, for the first time, is openly taking the side of the peace process in the Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has described the Saudi proposal as an important step and expressed hope the proposal will be fleshed out in greater detail in the weeks ahead.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.

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