As his tenure as Saudi’s foreign minister winds down, Saudi Prince Saud al Faisal admits regrets, he’s had a few. The New York Times starts off with some fun irrelevance:
The year that Prince Saud al-Faisal was appointed foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Gerald R. Ford was president of the United States, the Vietnam War ended and Microsoft had just opened its doors.
Prince Saud, a member of the ruling Saud family, is the world’s longest-serving foreign minister. He was appointed in 1975, and for nearly 35 years he has represented a nation whose oil wealth and religious importance to Muslims remains unrivaled. And yet, he said that after all those years, his legacy might be defined more by profound disappointment than by success. His generation of Arab leaders failed, he said, to produce a Palestinian state.
More relevant to Prince Saud’s position, though, 1975 was the year that the UN passed the odious “Zionism is racism” resolution. That’s something to keep in mind as we lsiten to his laments, especially at the end of the article.
But as he pulled his robe close and reflected on his tenure as Saudi Arabia’s chief diplomat, his thoughts returned to the Palestinians. The burning crisis, he said, has ruined Palestinian lives and left the region staggering from crisis to crisis.
“The absolute backing of the United States to Israel has had the effect that rather than making Israel safe for making peace, it has made Israel see the option of living in the area without the acceptance of the people of the area,†he said, “and this has led to many years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.â€
So the reason that there’s no Palestinian state and no peace in the Middle East is because the United States has supported Israel. It’s America’s fault! The enmity displayed by the Saudis and Arab/Muslim world in general towards Israel has nothing to do with that!
(This isn’t surprising. This article is a follow up to an earlier article that blames the declines of “moderate” SaudI Arabia and Egypt on Israel. It’s a premise that Barry Rubin dismissed with:
So let me get this straight. Really! If Israel doesn’t freeze construction on settlements, that’s bad. But if Israel does freeze construction on settlements and the U.S. government praises this concession, well that’s bad, too.
I guess the only thing Israel could do right in these people’s eyes is to disappear off the map entirely. Oh? Yes, I guess so.
Now back to our main target of disdain.)
Prince Saud can blame the United States as much as he wants, but what did his country ever do to promote peace with Israel? Oh right the Saudi peace proposal that makes specific demands on Israel while making vague promises on behalf of the Arab world. Please.
Prince Saud has had much to say about Israel over the course of his career. I found a few choice snippets.
From his talk to the UN General Assembly in 1987:
The basic demand of the peoples of the world today is peace and stability. The use of war as a means for resolving conflicts is totally rejected. It is certain, however, that continued success in this direction must be linked to a commitment by member states to the Charter, in letter and spirit. This commitment is the only guarantee for the realization of international peace and security, because it guarantees the establishment of normal, fair, and balanced relations between all states, irrespective of their sizes, locations, and military strengths, or their political, economic and social regimes. Perhaps one of the most formidable challenges that confronts the United Nations today is the wide gap that exists between commitment to the principles of the Charter and the actual behavior of states in their international relations, especially those states that persist in aggression, oppression, terrorism and discrimination, such as Israel and South Africa. Should the Organization fail to take timely and definitive responsible action, then it shall jeopardize its credibility and effectiveness to assure the commitment of its members to the Charter and the principles and objectives it enshrines.
From his speech in 1989:
The inhuman practices which are being committed by the Israeli authorities against the Palestinian people are the most dangerous elements that face any peace plan and the worst that the Israeli authorities can invest for human relationships with the Arab people at any time. Israel has to accept the reality for which there is no alternative: the Palestinian Liberation Organization is the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. It should realize that what the Palestine National Council has offered in sacrifices to put forward a peace formula and a road to peace in Palestine is Israel’s opportunity for peace. The Israeli authorities have to realize that this great sacrifice is a high price paid by the Palestinian people in the quest for peace and security and the preservation of its national status.
What concerns Palestine applies as well to the Arab lands which have been occupied by Israel in the Syrian Golan Heights and southern Lebanon. It is an invasion and occupation that is rejected and must be brought to an end at the earliest possible time, if the vehicle of peace is to move.
But the Middle East is considered by Israel one field, with the Arab Maghreb and some countries in southwest Asia; for which it is building rockets, and preparing offensive weapons of mass destruction, including deadly nuclear, chemical, and bacteriological weapons. These weapons, we must never forget, are all weapons of annihilations, the destruction of which collectively is a must. Destroying only part of them is an illogical contradiction to the call for limiting these weapons of absolute destruction. The long-range missile which Israeli authorities fired toward the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean increases the indications that security and peace based on human considerations is far from the conception of Israeli politicians. But of course this will not frighten anyone. Are we to see a better realization of peace during the coming year, in which the Israeli authorities will prove a change in thinking on what is right, or will Israel spoil all opportunities for peace by insisting on an Israeli peace that cannot be acquired?
These aren’t hard to find, they’re at the Saudi embassy’s website. It’s not like the Saudis are ashamed of them. If you didn’t know the source of these statements, you’d assume they were coming from an unhinged crackpot. These are statements of virulent hatred directed towards Israel by the top diplomat of a country, who claims that peace is his goal.
Well if peace is his goal, then Saud (and his country) ought to ditch the blind hatred. That would be a good start. Blaming the United States or Israel for such pathologies is simply a fraud.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
