The editor in chief of the Saudi daily al Watan, Dr. Saad Malek, scoffed at a report published by the British Observer Sunday in which the paper claimed that the Saudi regime is on the brink of collapse and that Crown Prince Abdullah faces the threat of loosing power amid disputes among the royal family factions and the escalating complaints among the Saudi people.
According to The Observer, anti-government demonstrations have swept the kingdom in recent months in protest at the pro-American stance of the de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah.
At the same time, British officials are concerned that Abdullah could face a palace coup from elements within the royal family sympathetic to al-Qaeda, according to the report published on Sunday. Saudi sources said the Pentagon had recently sponsored a secret meeting to look at options if the royal family fell.
Demonstrations across the kingdom broke out in March, prompted by a fire in a girls' school in which 14 pupils died after the religious police stopped them escaping. “Unrest in the east of the country rapidly escalated into nationwide protests against the royal family that were brutally suppressed by the police,” the British newspaper said. The Observer claims it obtained secret video footage of the protests smuggled out of the kingdom last week that shows hundreds of Saudis, including women, demonstrating in support of the Palestinians and opposition to the regime.
The Crown Prince's main rival, Prince Sultan, the Defense Minister, has been criticizing Abdullah's pro-Western policy. His brother Prince Naif, the minister of interior, has led a crackdown on the Saudi media in the wake of the demonstrations to stop any word of them leaking out. According to the newspaper, Abdullah has even sent his own representative to Washington to counter the influence of the ambassador, Prince Bandar, the son of Prince Sultan.
For his part, Malek told Albawaba.com, “all these false claims and scenarios are not new to us.” “Any observer would discover easily the intensive campaign in the Western media against the kingdom because of its stances towards the Arab issues in general and the Palestinian issue in particular,” added Malek.
Malek said the kingdom was not blasted by the Observer alone but also by the New York Times, which launched a similar campaign against the kingdom this week. He accused the Zionist lobby and other anti-Saudi elements of organizing such campaigns.
Responding to a question regarding the alleged disputes and competition among the royal family members, Malek said, “before I answer this question I would like to know the source of such lies. How could these people know such things? Do they have intelligence agencies or certain mechanisms that could discover what is in the minds and hearts of other people?"(Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
