Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres tried to meet a senior Saudi official, apparently Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal, last weekend in Washington, but the Saudis turned down his request.
According to the Israeli Haaretz daily, the bid, which came from the Israeli side, was passed to the Saudis through unofficial channels without U.S. intervention.
The goal of this proposed meeting was to give Peres a chance “to persuade the Saudis to join the effort in convincing the Palestinians to take action against terrorism and return to the negotiating table,” the Israeli paper reported.
However, the Saudis rebuffed the request, saying it was not an appropriate time to meet with an official Israeli.
The Saudi Foreign Minister is currently in the USA, accompanying the Crown Prince in his official talks with the American leadership.
Speaking to CNN, he denied that a recent telethon in Saudi Arabia was held to help Palestinian suicide bombers. “The telethon was aimed at helping the Palestinian people who are being subjected to Israeli atrocities,” he said. This comment came after U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell cited the possibility that money raised by a recent three-day Saudi telethon could be used to encourage Palestinian bombings against Israel.
Additionally, Prince Saud said there can be no negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel until Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdraws forces from Palestinian areas and ends the siege on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
“Sharon always says that he cannot negotiate with a gun pointed at his head. Why does he expect that the other side can negotiate with a gun pointed at their heads. There has to be withdrawal, there has to be freedom of movement for President Arafat for any negotiations to take place,” he said.
He challenged Bush to press Israel to end Israel’s siege of the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah, saying the Palestinian leader “can do nothing” to stop the violence as long as he is besieged.
“Arafat whether you like him or not is the elected president of the Palestinian people. He is the man authorized to negotiate for them,” the prince said.
In his interview with CNN, Prince Saud said there was growing unease in the Kingdom and the rest of the Arab world at the UN failure to play a role for peace in the Middle East. “The people in the Middle East could not understand how somebody rebuff a US request,” he said in reference to Israel’s perceived flouting of Bush’s call for an immediate withdrawal from Palestinian cities.
Referring to Bush’s characterization of Sharon as a “man of peace,” the prince said: “Actually I have not heard Bush describing Sharon as a man of peace but he has often said that he (Sharon) is working for peace. I don’t think that even Sharon himself would believe that he is a man of peace.” (Albawaba.com)
