NEW YORK, 26 February — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, says international peacekeepers should separate Israelis and Palestinians.
This is the only way, he told Time’s Scott MacLeod in an interview, to pressure the warring parties back to the negotiating table. The crown prince also called for implementation of the Tenet plan and Mitchell report as the first step toward ending violence and restarting Middle East peace talks.
Asked what would happen if Arafat is eliminated as a negotiating partner, Prince Abdullah said it would shake the Arab and Muslim world and destroy the credibility of anyone who was involved in this move. Forever.
Responsibility for the violence in the region, the crown prince told the US weekly magazine, “lies squarely with the person who gave the orders. You cannot break out of this cycle of violence when the prime minister of Israel orders planes to drop bombs and sends tanks to invade villages.”
Arafat cannot control all the Palestinians, the crown prince said in reply to a question. “He especially cannot control them while they are being shelled and killed by the Israelis.”
Prince Abdullah’s proposal for getting Middle East talks going again follows his recent peace initiative in which he offered Israel full peace and normalization by all Arab countries in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and other territories seized in the 1967 war.
In the interview, Prince Abdullah emphasized that he is a “friend” of the US, but expressed skepticism of the US war on terrorism and the branding of certain countries as an “axis of evil.”
In reply to a question, the crown prince said he does not believe the war on terrorism should be extended to include Iran or Iraq, two of the three countries branded by President Bush as an “axis of evil.” In fact, “Iran is contributing to stability in the Gulf region,” he said.
America, the crown prince said, is a friend. As such America’s interests are “as important to the Kingdom as our own interests.” America cannot fight the war on terrorism alone. “It will be a tiring, difficult and expensive war, with human and material losses, and it will cause the number of America’s enemies to multiply. America cannot be the sole policeman of the world.”
Prince Abdullah suggested that every nation under UN auspices should sign an international agreement and commit to combating terrorism and drugs. If a country refuses to combat terrorism and drugs, it should be punished.
“I do not believe that the war on terrorism applies to Iran and Iraq. If you have a situation (of Iranian or Iraqi terrorism), it is the result of a small fringe group and not government policy,” the crown prince said.
About Saudi-US relationship, he wondered how a relationship that has been strong and solid for over six decades can be questioned like this. “I sense that there is some resentment about the relationship, and of the Kingdom, that I frankly don’t understand. Somebody must be trying to drive a wedge.”
There is no enmity at all between the Saudi government and the American government, or between the Saudi people and the American people, he asserted. In reply to a question on US troops in Saudi Arabia overtstaying their welcome, the crown prince said there have been no discussions whatsoever on the matter. “We don’t think about raising this issue. If and when the time comes, it will be discussed by both governments.”
