RIYADH - Saudi Arabia is welcoming rival Lebanese parties to settle their political differences on its soil, announced the Kingdom’s Ambassador to Beirut Abdul Aziz Khooja.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is keen on Lebanese parties gathering together to end their political differences to save their country from political and economic turmoil,” Al-Khooja told Arab News over the phone from Lebanon. “If they are willing to come to the Kingdom then they are most welcome.”

Mufti of Lebanon Sheikh Mohammad Ali Judo told Arab News that he had proposed to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah the idea of gathering all Lebanese parties on Saudi soil during a meeting in Riyadh last month.

“I asked him to take into consideration the seriousness of the matter,” he commented.

The Lebanese mufti was among the foreign dignitaries who attended this year’s National Festival of Culture and Heritage at Janadriya outside Riyadh.

The mufti believed that the crisis in his country could only be solved with the mediation of the friends of Lebanon, the most important of them being the Kingdom.

“Nothing but a ‘Taif 2’ meeting could solve the crisis,” Sheikh Judo said, referring to the historic meeting of Lebanese factions in the Saudi city of Taif in 1989 to reach an agreement to end the country’s civil war.

He described the crisis in his country as “political and sectarian at the same time” saying that it was a “struggle for power.”

Ambassador Khooja said should the Lebanese parties choose the Kingdom as a peace broker, they would have to arrive with a peace agenda. “Should they choose to come here they must come with ‘a clear outline’ for Lebanese reconciliation,” he stressed.

He said the Saudi leadership would not propose an agreement to the Lebanese parties if they arrived in the Kingdom. “We would request that they find the appropriate agenda by themselves,” he said. “The solution must be totally Lebanese.”

The ambassador said the Kingdom had not formally invited Lebanese parties. He, however, confirmed to Arab News that Lebanese President Emile Lahoud had accepted the Kingdom’s invitation to attend the Arab Summit scheduled in Riyadh on March 28.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud told a ministerial meeting of the Gulf on Monday that the situation in Lebanon “was not progressing.”

“I do not know how much suffering the Lebanese people have to endure or how many chances they will lose before that precious nation enjoys peace,” he said.

He said that Lebanese people would have to decide their own fate without any outside interference, calling on all political parties to put the interests of the nation before everything else.