CRAWFORD, Texas?Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah met for two hours Thursday with President Bush at his Texas ranch, looking to ease growing tensions between their two nations that loomed over a summit originally meant to advance the Mideast peace process.

A Saudi spokesman said the crown prince was not softening his demand to Bush that the United States pressure Israel to halt its current military action. Nail Al-Jubeir, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy, said he expected the crown prince to deliver a frank message to Bush: “The message is, Sharon has been acting up, and the U.S. government needs to rein him in. We cannot maintain the peace process with this stuff going on.”

Arab leaders said the discussions could determine the Arab nations’ next moves. The meeting “will clarify a lot of issues and will be the basis for the Arabs’ future steps,” Egypt’s foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, said.