The chief of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) George Tenet met in Riyadh on Sunday with the Saudi Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz.
The Saudi press agency said that Tenet discussed with Prince Abdullah the current international developments and a number of issues of common concern. Tent arrived earlier in the day from Yemen on a surprise visit.
Normalization
Saudi Arabia would consider normalizing ties with Israel and influencing the Arab League to do the same if Israel carried out a full withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, The New York Times reported on Sunday, quoting Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
“Full withdrawal from all the occupied territories, in accord with UN resolutions, including Jerusalem, for full normalization of relations,” Crown Prince Abdullah told Thomas Friedman.
During the interview, the Crown Prince disclosed he had written a speech along those lines to deliver before the 22-member Arab League scheduled for March, but shelved it when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took a tougher stand against the Palestinians.
“I changed my mind about delivering it when Sharon took the violence, and the oppression, to an unprecedented level,” Friedman quoted the Crown Prince as saying.
The quotes came from an off-the-record discussion, which Prince Abdullah later agreed could be placed on record.
Prince Abdullah told The New York Times columnist he wanted to communicate to the Israelis that the Arab world did not “reject or despise them”. What they reject is Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s actions.
“The Arab people do reject what their [Israeli] leadership is now doing to the Palestinians, which is inhumane and oppressive,” Prince Abdullah said, adding that his speech would have been “a possible signal to the Israeli people.”
Asked whether he would be ready to renew his proposal if Sharon and the Palestinians were to agree to a cease-fire before next month’s Arab summit, the Crown Prince replied, “Let me say to you that the speech is written, and it is still in my drawer.”
Saudi Arabia has always been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and has been calling for a just settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, based on UN resolutions.
In reply to another question, the Crown Prince stated he was against any attack on Iraq or Iran. Such an attack “should not be contemplated at all,” he said and added that this “would not serve the interests of America, the region or the world.”
“Iraq is contemplating the return of [UN weapons] inspectors, and the US should pursue this because inspectors can determine if Iraq is complying with the UN resolutions” regarding weapons of mass destruction.
Regarding the September 11 attacks on the US, the Crown Prince said, “We saw this attack by Osama Bin Laden and his men as an attack on us, too, and an attempt to damage the US-Saudi relationship.”
The Kingdom was deeply saddened by the attacks, he stated and never expected it to lead to tensions between the two countries. “But we’ve now learned that we respond to events differently. ...It is never too late to express our regrets”. (Albawaba.com)
