Saudi prince says US ties at risk over Mideast

[Scurrilous]

'Unless Obama administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk,' Prince Turki al-Faisal says, adding that Ahmadinejad urged Saudis to lead 'jihad' against Israel

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3660759,00.html

<snip>

"A member of Saudi Arabia's royal family warned US President Barack Obama on Friday the Middle East peace process and US-Saudi ties were at risk unless Washington changed tack on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel had come close to "killing the prospect of peace" with its offensive in Gaza, Prince Turki al-Faisal wrote in an article published on the Financial Times' website.

"Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk," said Turki, a former Saudi intelligence chief and former ambassador to the United States and Britain.

About 1,300 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were killed and 5,000 wounded during the 22-day offensive, which ended with a ceasefire on Sunday."


Saudi patience is running out (Turki al-Faisal)

<snip>

"In my decades as a public servant, I have strongly promoted the Arab-Israeli peace process. During recent months, I argued that the peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia could be implemented under an Obama administration if the Israelis and Palestinians both accepted difficult compromises. I told my audiences this was worth the energies of the incoming administration for, as the late Indian diplomat Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit said: “The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war.”

But after Israel launched its bloody attack on Gaza, these pleas for optimism and co-operation now seem a distant memory. In the past weeks, not only have the Israeli Defence Forces murdered more than 1,000 Palestinians, but they have come close to killing the prospect of peace itself. Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, told the UN Security Council that if there was no just settlement, “we will turn our backs on you”. King Abdullah spoke for the entire Arab and Muslim world when he said at the Arab summit in Kuwait that although the Arab peace initiative was on the table, it would not remain there for long. Much of the world shares these sentiments and any Arab government that negotiated with the Israelis today would be rightly condemned by its citizens. Two of the four Arab countries that have formal ties to Israel – Qatar and Mauritania – have suspended all relations and Jordan has recalled its ambassador.

America is not innocent in this calamity. Not only has the Bush administration left a sickening legacy in the region – from the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to the humiliation and torture at Abu Ghraib – but it has also, through an arrogant attitude about the butchery in Gaza, contributed to the slaughter of innocents. If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact – especially its “special relationship” with Saudi Arabia – it will have to drastically revise its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/65b122b6-e8c0-11dd-a4d0-0000779fd2ac.html

[cali]

1. Interesting. Were such words ever directed at bushy by any of the

Saudi royal family?

[Vegasaurus]

3. With their cozy and financially dependent relationship?

Doubtful.

[Scurrilous]

4. August 2001: Crown Prince Abdullah Warns Bush Against Pro-Israeli Stance in Letter

"Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah writes to President Bush saying that the administration’s increasingly pro-Israel stance with regard to the Palestinians and other issues is putting the Saudis in a very difficult position. The prince warns that Saudi Arabia may need to reassess its relations with the United States. Bush immediately responds by promising a new, more balanced initiative for peace in the Middle East, including support for a Palestinian state. But the new American initiative will be derailed by the events of September 11."

http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=western_support_for_islamic_militancy_2847&scale=0#western_support_for_islamic_militancy_2847

[Vegasaurus]

5. Old, outdated

long before the oil barons of the Bush administration cast their eyes at Iraq and SA.

[bemildred]

2. That was a very interesting statement. nt