Saudi Arabia is backing down from its proposal to offer Israel normalized relations in favor of a much-publicized land-for-peace deal.

The reversal by Riyadh comes in preparations for an Arab League Summit Conference scheduled for March 27-28, according to a report translated today from al-Jazeera.

According to the report, a demand by Syria prompted the new position by Saudi Arabia, and it has been agreed to by the Arab council

"The council condemns the policies of the government of Israel which destroys and calls on the countries of the world to stand against Israel and its hatred," reads the statement issued by the group.

The final statement issued after the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo urged the organizations and the popular associations to continue supporting the resistance of Palestinian intifada.

A change in the Saudi Middle East peace proposals from offering Israel "full normalization" with Arab countries would mean the end of the plan, an Israeli official said later.

"The only new element was the offer of normalization as part of a peace agreement. If there is no further mention of this, nothing will remain of the initiative" disclosed last month by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Avi Pazner said. He added, "That does not surprise us unduly, as we were always skeptical in this matter, considering that Riyadh wanted above all to improve its image with the United States, he added.

Arab diplomats said Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal had dropped a previous call for "full normalization" with Israel after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Arab foreign ministers.

The diplomats said Saudi Arabia had agreed to a Syrian request to introduce instead the term "complete peace," because it stresses diplomatic or government-to-government rather than people-to-people ties.