CONFIDENTIAL talks involving a senior member of the Saudi royal family are due to be held in Oxford this week in an effort to kick-start the Middle East peace process.

The meeting, which is being monitored by the Foreign Office, is intended to build trust between old foes far from the glare of publicity.

Participants in the talks, organised by the Oxford Research Group, a charity specialising in security, are expected to include Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief, and Nabil Shaath, a Palestinian peace negotiator.

Israel is sending Alon Liel, a former foreign ministry director, and Matti Steinberg, an adviser to the Israeli intelligence services and to Ehud Olmert, the outgoing prime minister.

The three-day seminar, entitled Activating the Arab Peace Initiative, will try to breathe new life into a plan believed by many experts to have the best hope of resolving conflict in the region.

Drawn up by the Saudis in 2002, the initiative offers Israel a comprehensive peace treaty with 22 Arab countries in return for a withdrawal to its borders before the six-day war of 1967 when it occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. The offer was reaffirmed at an Arab summit in Damascus earlier this year.

Although many elements may prove unacceptable to Israel, President Shimon Peres has pointedly not ruled out negotiations. “I call upon Arab leaders to come to Israel to present their initiative,” he said last month.

Last week Olmert told an Israeli newspaper that the country would have to withdraw from the territories it occupied after the 1967 war to secure a permanent peace with the Arab world.

The Oxford conference is modelled on exploratory talks that preceded the failed Oslo Accords of 1993. There are numerous stumbling blocks but negotiators hope new leadership in America, Israel and the Palestinian territories could bring a fresh impetus.

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