U.S. President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah met Thursday at Bush's Texas ranch home to discuss the Palestinian Israeli conflict, Iraq and war against terror.
Bush introduced the Saudi prince to a U.S. delegation that included Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, chief of staff Andrew Card and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Against the backdrop of mounting anti-American sentiment on Arab streets, the Saudi leader bore a warning to Bush that U.S. backing of Israel had damaged prospects for Mideast peace.
Arab leaders said the discussions could determine the Arabs nations' next steps. This meeting is "important, revealing of American stances, and will clarify a lot of issues and will be the basis for the Arabs' future steps," Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, said Thursday in Cairo, according to AP.
"We believe the administration could have been stronger on (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, made it clearer to him that negotiations cannot be done under the barrel of a gun," Nail Al-Jubeir, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy, told reporters before the meeting.
Al-Jubeir said the crown prince brought a frank message: "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."
Images of Israeli-inflicted devastation in Palestinian refugee camps "make it more difficult for friends of the U.S. to stand up with the U.S.," he said.
Some oil prices surged Thursday on fears that Abdullah would threaten to choke off Saudi oil to the United States. Al-Jubeir denied that. "We've always been a reliable source of oil, and we'll continue to be," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
