12 - 18 July 2001
Issue No.542
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 12 - 18 July 2001 Issue No.542 |
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A disillusioned friend
In a significant shift, Saudi officials have decided to go public in expressing dismay over the United States' blind support for Israel, writes Michael Jansen
Senior members of the Saudi royal family have expressed unprecedented exasperation over the refusal of the United States and Europe to curb Israel's excessive use of force against the Palestinians.
On a tour of Arab and European capitals last week, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz, known for his Arab nationalist views, focused on Palestine and attempts to put an end to Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinians, a Saudi source said.
Prince Abdullah issued his first warning that a regional war could be sparked off by an escalation of the conflict in Palestine while on a visit to Damascus early last month. "Every drop of Arab blood [shed on occupied Arab land] has its price," he said, and urged the US and Europe to "contribute to the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace."
Prince Abdullah followed up these words with an interview in the 9 June issue of the German Der Speigel, in which he held Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responsible for the violence in the region. "We are all sitting on a keg of dynamite that can explode at any moment," he warned. "This war will not only hit the Israelis and the Arabs but also other areas in the world." On 25 June, in an interview with the Financial Times of London, the man who has been practically ruling Saudi Arabia since the health of his half-brother, King Fahd, deteriorated sharply nearly two years ago, called for a more effective and balanced European and US effort to preserve the Palestinian-Israeli cease-fire and said a protracted conflict could lead to terrorism and regional war.
While stressing his country's commitment to stability in the oil markets and the intimate Saudi-US relationship, Prince Abdullah said he was aggrieved with "one-sided" US support for Israel, implying that Riyadh could take measures to punish Washington. The crown prince called upon Europe to play a "more prominent role" in peacemaking than at present which, he said, was "hardly noticeable."
To demonstrate his displeasure with Washington, Abdullah refused to follow his recent visit to Canada with a meeting with US President George W Bush. Prince Abdullah's tough talk -- combined with urgent appeals from Egypt and Jordan for immediate US intervention -- led Bush to send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the area on his ill- fated mission to jump-start the Palestinian-Israeli cease- fire.
Prince Abdullah's remarks have been bolstered by statements from other key Saudi officials. On 18 June, Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz said the kingdom would resume the boycott of firms doing business with Israel "if the world superpowers and the UN Security Council did not take a positive stand" to stop Israel's aggression.
Meanwhile, and in a significant article published in the London-based Arabic daily Al- Hayat, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to London, Ghazi Al-Qusaybi, urged the Arab world to "think the unthinkable," and consider the possibility of a conventional war with Israel. He argued that as long as there was no threat of war, there was nothing to deter Israel's repression of the Palestinians. Qusaybi argued that Egypt was the key to a credible Arab deterrent and called for a repeat of the 1973 experience, when Syrian-Egyptian military action was combined with the "oil states standing behind them with their oil."
In spite of denials by Prince Abdullah that Saudi Arabia would deploy the "oil weapon", observers suggested the current Saudi line echoed warnings issued by King Faisal in 1973 after the war broke out between Egypt and Israel. At that time, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led the initiative to cut supplies to the West.
However, the apparent Saudi anger with Washington is not linked only to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Saudis were reportedly furious over the unilateral US decision to indict suspects detained by Riyadh in connection with the 1996 bombing of a US military housing complex in Dhahran in which 19 servicemen died. Prince Sultan said the US had "no right to institute legal proceedings (against Al-Khobar suspects)." "Only Saudi Arabia has the right to launch proceedings," he said.
His remarks prompted Interior Minister Prince Nayef to add: "I think the country in which the crime has been perpetrated is the only one that has the right [to try the accused], and nobody else."
He said the US indictment would have no effect on the course of the [Saudi] investigation, and the suspects would appear before a Saudi court "in the not too distant future."
He denied the US claim that the accused were members of a Saudi branch of the Lebanese Hizbullah movement, and that they received help from Iran. "There is no so-called Saudi Hizbullah, and we reject any such assertion," he said. He admitted, however, that there could be individuals who were linked to the Lebanese Hizbullah, but insisted there was no evidence of Tehran's complicity in the bombing. Riyadh, which has reconciled with Tehran over the past three years, is clearly not prepared to accept unproved US. accusations of alleged Iranian involvement which would estrange Riyadh and Tehran.
The remarks of Prince Sultan and Prince Nayef are particularly important because they are members of the "Sudairi" faction in the royal family, considered to be closest to the US. Furthermore, Prince Sultan, second in line to the throne, and Prince Nayef are full brothers of King Fahd, also known for his support for very close ties with the US.
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