Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday it will participate in the proposed Middle East conference in the United States in the fall, several hours after the U.S. joined in an Arab statement backing the Saudi Arabia 2002 initiative. It calls for Israel to return to the 1949 Armistice Line borders, a demand that both Israel and the U.S. previously have rejected.
 
"We welcome this initiative," Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said at a news conference with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Al-Faisal immediately called on Israel to "respond to these pressures" for peace.

Earlier this week, American President George W. Bush proposed selling $20 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.