SHUNEH, Jordan (Gulf Times) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki on Saturday expressed his country’s rejection of a Saudi-backed four-year-old Arab-Israeli peace initiative, saying it was bound to fail.

“Despite the good (intentions) of some countries and some parties to protect the right of Palestinians, we do believe that either due to the plans or due to the other side’s approach, all of those plans will fail,” he said.

“If we talk based on realities, I do not see any chance,” Mottaki added in comments to journalists at one of the Jordan-based World Economic Forum plenary meetings.

Mottaki said that the important conditions outlined in the initiative would not see the light.

“No capital for Palestine, no for the returning of the refugees who stand up to five million Palestinians,” he told journalists.

“We can recognize more than 132 plans for peace in the last 30 years. Why were these plans or initiatives not met or realized?” Mottaki asked. Iran, he added, has proposed a “democratic free and fair referendum” where original Muslim, Christian and Jewish Palestinians would vote and choose their regime.

He said his country did not see the Israeli regime as legitimate. Nevertheless “primary school students know that it’s not possible to remove a country from the map. And that is very clear,” Mottaki said.

Mottaki’s remarks did not appear to appeal to Marouf Bakhit, Jordanian premier, and Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, former ambassador to Iraq, who were present at the same plenary. Bakhit defended the initiative as the first comprehensive plan that promises a “once and for all” solution for the Palestinian crisis. “For the first time we take the peace efforts in our own hands,” he said, adding this was a “chance that (Israel) should seize.”

He said that Mottaki must have been referring to UN resolutions by the 132 plans he mentioned.

Turki said he believed that “the reality says that Iran should be onboard. The wishful thinking says why should they?” “This is an Arab issue. This is a Palestinian issue which should be solved in Arab-Palestinian context. Unfortunately, the Palestinian conflict lends itself to outside interference,” said Turki.