Visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Saturday that he viewed the Saudi Arabia proposed Arab peace initiative as a good base for establishing a vision for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ban made the remarks upon his arrival in Israel late on Saturday on his first official Middle East visit, local media reported, without giving more details.

The Arab peace initiative, which was adopted by the Arab League in 2002 Beirut summit, offers Israel normal ties with Arab countries in return for full withdrawal from land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel rejected it when it was first proposed in 2002. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said recently that the peace initiative could be used as a basis for negotiation between Israel and moderate force in the Arab world.

"This government will not miss an opportunity to dialogue with its enemies and will do anything possible, including painful concession to push this process forward," Olmert said while meeting with national service volunteers on Thursday.

Ban was met at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport by Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz.

Peretz's office told media that Ban will meet with Peretz late Saturday, during which they are expected to discuss the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ending the summer's war with Lebanese Hezbollah and the new Palestinian unity government.

Ban will also meet on Sunday with Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, and may also meet with Palestinian Foreign Minister Abu Amar and Finance Minister Salam Fayad, both of them independents, according to media reports.

But Ban said earlier on Saturday that he had no plans to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya during his Middle East tour.

While in Cairo, Egypt, earlier in the day, Ban urged the new Palestinian unity government to live up to the expectations of the international community, referring to demands that it recognize and work toward peace.

Source: Xinhua