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| Saudis to press US over Israel |
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| BrKhalid |
| 04/25/02 at 11:36:33 |
| Saudis to press US over Israel Saudi leaders say they will ask US President George W Bush to do more to restrain Israel when they meet at an informal summit. Mr Bush will be told that Israel's actions against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza must not be viewed as part of America's war against terror, according to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Sa'ud al-Faysal. And there can be no discussion of a Middle East peace plan devised by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah until Israel has withdrawn fully from Palestinian areas, he said. Prince Abdullah, Prince Sa'ud and Saudi officials have been invited to President Bush's Texas ranch for a meeting planned to discuss Iraq, but the Middle East crisis has taken over the agenda. Saudi Arabia is a traditional ally of the US but relations have been strained since the 11 September hijacks committed by mostly Saudi nationals. Each side will make demands of the other to do more in the Middle East. Mr Bush wants Saudi Arabia to condemn suicide bombings while Prince Abdullah will ask the US leader to distance himself from the acts of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Prince Sa'ud said there was "no good terrorism" but Arabs could understand the acts of suicide bombers. "There is a difference between a terrorist act such as 11 September and a suicide operation carried out by a young woman or man for whom all avenues to a dignified life have been blocked," he said. He also dismissed Israel's attempts to compare its "fight against terrorism" to that waged by the US in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington. "I can't believe that the United States accepts such a contention, and Crown Prince Abdullah will emphasise this," he said. Peace conference 'absurd' Prince Sa'ud said there was a prevailing frustration in Saudi Arabia that the US favoured Israel blindly and that was contributing to the crisis in the Middle East. He ridiculed Mr Bush's description of Mr Sharon as "a man of peace". "Ariel Sharon a man of peace? I don't even think Ariel Sharon believes that," he told US television. He denounced Mr Sharon's offer to attend a regional peace conference hosted by the US as "most absurd". The Saudis will also not push Prince Abdullah's plan - seen by Mr Bush as a "new portal" to peace - until Israel has evacuated all the West Bank towns it has occupied and lifted the siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. 'Abandon strike plan' The summit in Crawford, Texas, was planned originally by the Americans to garner support for their goal of deposing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But Prince Sa'ud said Prince Abdullah would urge Mr Bush to abandon plans for any military strike against Iraq. Riyadh recently started a rapprochement with Baghdad for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War. The choice of Mr Bush's ranch for the meeting suggests a desire to create an atmosphere of informal friendliness in a potentially difficult meeting. Mr Bush has only used his private home to entertain two other leaders since he came to power - Britain's Tony Blair and Russia's Vladimir Putin. [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1950000/1950764.stm[/url] |
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