President Bush is welcoming a Saudi initiative for Middle East peace, and a top European Union official visits Saudi Arabia Wednesday to discuss the plan.

Mr. Bush phoned Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah Tuesday to discuss the initiative. A White House spokesman says Mr. Bush praised the ideas regarding full Arab-Israeli normalization once a comprehensive peace agreement is reached. But the spokesman also says Mr. Bush believes the first step towards Palestinian-Israeli peace should be to implement proposals to end the violence which are already on the table.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is cutting short his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories to make a last-minute stop in Saudi Arabia Wednesday to discuss the initiative. Mr. Solana says Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is ready to meet anybody from Saudi Arabia to discuss the peace plan.

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.

The United Nations Security Council says the proposal must be given serious thought. Dozens of speakers addressed the council Tuesday on the Saudi plan and other proposals aimed at restoring the peace process. 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.

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