Following a Saudi snub of the United States’ requests for concessions to Israel in a news conference Friday, a report in the prestigious pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reveals that the Gulf states and other Arab countries are “annoyed” with the U.S. initiative.

While special U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell made a statement in Cairo calling upon Arab countries to commence partial normalization of ties with Israel, “knowledgeable diplomatic sources” told the newspaper that “the Gulf States and the Arab countries have reservations about responding [positively] to Mitchell's request and that they feel ‘annoyed’ by the US insistence that they take certain steps that these countries consider ‘premature.’”

“There is no reason to take [these steps] at this point in time," said the sources, which were described as “familiar with the substance” of Mitchell's talks with Arab representatives.