Riyadh - Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Wednesday called on Israel "to take a position" on peace with Arab states if it wished to keep an Arab peace initiative on the table.

In a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in Riyadh on Wednesday, al-Faisal said the Israeli government had brought the peace process "to naught."

He called on the "international community," and the United States in particular, to pressure Israel to abide by former peace treaties and to stop building settlements in the West Bank.

"Statements by the Israeli government are a bad portent for the peace process," al-Faisal said.

Echoing resolutions adopted by the Arab League at a March summit in Qatar, the Saudi foreign minister said that an Arab peace initiative, first proposed by Saudi Arabia and subsequently adopted by Arab League member states, only remains on the table because of Arabs "desire for peace."

Arab states that signed on to that initiative in 2002 offered Israel diplomatic recognition in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from territories it has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and a "just solution" to the issue of Palestinian refugees.

Miliband, for his part, confirmed Britain's support for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with a shared capital in Jerusalem. (dpa)