A Saudi Arab-Israeli peace plan first proposed in 2002 was relaunched at the Arab summit that took place in Riyadh on Wednesday and Thursday. In a reflection of its increasing desperation, Israel is now willing to possibly use this plan as a basis for further negotiations with its enemies.

The increasingly embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made clear where he stood last week in a speech in Tel Aviv: “This government will not miss out on an opportunity to engage in talks with our enemies,” he stated. “This includes making concessions.” Olmert said that Israel was willing to make “sweeping, painful and tough concessions” to encourage dialogue with its enemies.

Contrast this with the inflexible stance of those “enemies”: The peace offer must be applied “without any change in its clauses or even its text,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said at the Arab summit. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a British newspaper that Israel should not expect any further peace offers.

Though Israel yesterday rejected the Saudi plan as it stands, it said it would be willing to accept the plan with some changes and that further negotiations were needed. The same plan was rejected outright by Israel when it was first put forward in 2002—and it is quite obvious why. The Saudi peace offer requires a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and east Jerusalem; the creation of a Palestinian state; and the right of return for Palestinian “refugees.” And what would Israel get out of the deal? It would get to talk to the Arab states. Yes, in return for giving up critically strategic territory and more-or-less signing its own death warrant, Israel would get the promise of “normal” relations with its enemies.

That this plan is again on the table—especially given Olmert’s outspoken willingness to give away land for promises of peace, despite the failed history of such initiatives—points to the period of desperation that Israel is entering. The Trumpet wrote in May last year: “Olmert’s plans already reflect a certain amount of Israeli desperation. But these are just the opening pages of this final chapter—what is prophesied to become an increasingly wilder period of Jewish decision making.”

The desperate attempts by Olmert to leave some sort of legacy to what is seen as his failed prime ministership simply reflect what even some Israelis are now seeing as their biggest threat: their own weakness. Read “Israel’s Final Chapter” for more on where Israel’s broken will, and its willingness to compromise, is leading.