Saudis refuse to attend US's token peace conference

Admittedly, this peace conference was all theater, but the Saudis bailing out is a big diplomatic embarrassment.

Saudi Arabia will probably skip a Mideast peace conference called by President Bush if it doesn't tackle substantive issues such as the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, the kingdom's foreign minister said Wednesday.

(The current policy seems to be to prop the Saudis up as the Palestinians new defenders in place of Iran. So, maybe the Saudis holding out for terms is all a part of the Kabuki.)