March 28, 2007
Saudi King Condemns U.S. Occupation of Iraq
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 28 — The king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, condemned the presence of American forces in Iraq as an “illegitimate foreign occupation” in a speech today, and said the withholding of aid to Palestinians should end.
The king’s speech, at the opening of the Arab League summit here, appeared to distance his country’s position from that of the United States. Saudi Arabia has been a powerful Arab ally to the United States in the Persian Gulf region.
The speech was wide-ranging, but in referring to the Palestinians and the conflict in Iraq he touched on two of the biggest issues in the Middle East. “In our dear Iraq, the blood is spilling between our brothers in light of an illegitimate foreign occupation,” he said.
At the start of the two-day meeting of Arab states, King Abdullah called on Arab governments to increase their unity.
“In Palestine, the people are suffering and the occupation is denying it stability and nation,” the king said in the speech that also touched on Sudan and Lebanon, and other issues in Arab countries.
“It has become necessary to end the continued losses of the Palestinian people,” King Abdullah said. “So the peace process must move far from the realm of tragedy and sadness to lead to an independent state.”
The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, urged Israel in his remarks today to accept an Arab initiative that was raised again at the summit after having been dormant for five years.
Arab states agreed at the meeting to restart the initiative, which would offer Israel normalized ties with Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, in return for Israel’s full withdrawal from land it has occupied since 1967.
Israel rejected the plan — which also stipulates that Palestinians have the right to return to Israel — when it was presented in 2002. But recently Mr. Olmert and Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, have sounded positive notes about the Arab plan, while saying the refugee question remains off the table.
“We must convince their politicians and leaders” to take the initiative seriously, Mr. Moussa said, referring to the Israelis. “They say change it first, we say accept it first and come to the negotiating table.”
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was also in Riyadh for the summit as part of a tour of Middle East diplomacy.
He had said in Jerusalem that representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, along with Israeli and Palestinian officials, could be invited to attend the next meeting of the so-called quartet working on Middle East peace: Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
Warren Hoge contributed reporting from Riyadh, and Christine Hauser from New York. |
