WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Ambassador to the United States Turki al-Faisal on Monday urged Washington to press Israel to have peace talks with the Palestinians.

    Speaking at the conference of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, Prince Turki al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia does not object to American friendship with Israel, "but that friendship should be used to push Israel to engage in the peace process."

    Prince Turki rejected the arguments that political conditions in the volatile region were currently too inflamed to permit negotiations.

    "These excuses will continue ... we have heard them for the last 50 years," the prince said, stressing "Implementation should be done now. The United States devised the roadmap, it needs to implement it."

    "The United States is the only country that can do the right thing for everybody in the Middle East."

    The United States, one of the so-called Middle East quartet and joined by Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, worked out a "roadmap" for the settlement of Israil-Palestine conflicts in April 2003.

    However, Washington has been reluctant to engage in nuts and bolts peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians -- despite calling for the formation of a Palestinian state.

    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned from her sixth visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories earlier this month, but failed to break the peacemaking stalemate.

    "It is no secret that U.S. standing in the Middle East is at an all-time low," Prince Turki said.

    "It is not a matter of military strength or a shift in rhetoric, but rather a matter of basic understanding of the needs of the people who are affected by U.S. political decisions," he said.

    "If the U.S. is going to help itself its policy needs to change in the Middle East," the Saudi envoy said.