(Refiles to add dropped words in paragraph two) By Wafa Amr RIYADH, March 26 (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers agreed on Monday to relaunch at their summit this week a five-year-old initiative for peace with Israel but without any of the alterations sought by the Jewish state. "The Arabs have agreed to reactivate the Arab initiative without changes. We reiterated that all Arab nations will adhere to the initiative as it is," Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib told Reuters after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Saudi capital. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters the plan would be presented to the United Nations and the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers for their endorsement. The 2002 peace plan to be reendorsed at the March 28-29 summit by heads of state offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for full withdrawal from all land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. A draft text of the resolutions obtained by Reuters reiterates a call "to all Israelis to accept the initiative and seize the current opportunity to return to the direct and serious negotiating process at all levels." It calls for a "just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees" who fled their homes in 1948 and reiterates "the right of return of the Palestinian refugees in line ... with U.N. General Assembly resolution 194." Resolution 194, passed after the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation, says "refugees wishing to return to their homes...should be permitted to do so, and... compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Israel rejected the Arab plan in 2002 and continues to object to some elements, including the proposed return to 1967 borders, the status of Jerusalem and the refugee issue. Most Arab states have backed the peace plan and Saudi Arabia is lobbying Islamist group Hamas, which heads the Palestinian government, to back it. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was upbeat about the plan on Monday, telling reporters that "if moderate Arab countries will try to advance the process along the lines of the Saudi initiative, I would look at it as a very positive development." But Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said: "There are clauses in the Saudi initiative that we do not agree with." He did not elaborate. NO HAMAS OPPOSITION A senior Palestinian official said Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal had told Saudi leaders on Sunday his group would not voice any opposition to the peace plan at the summit. Hamas has avoided giving clear support for the plan. Officials from the group have welcomed the idea of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem, but reject an explicit recognition of Israel. The draft resolutions call on Arab states to support the Palestinian unity government and for an end to an international blockade against it and the boycott of some ministers. The United States and European Union have said they will only deal with non-Hamas government officials. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Arab endorsement would enhance the plan's chances. "If the Arabs have a clear and strong position on the initiative, it has more chance of being adopted internationally and of serious peace negotiations," he said. Prince Saud also said the summit would be an "important chance" to push reconciliation in Lebanon, where groups led by pro-Iranian Hezbollah are opposed to a Western-backed cabinet. Prince Saud said the situation in Iraq, where sectarian violence threatens a descent into all-out civil war, was a "serious challenge" and called for an end to foreign interference, in an apparent reference to Iran.
