RIYADH, 23 September — Prince Abdullah, the regent, discussed regional developments yesterday with Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of US forces in the Gulf.
Prince Abdullah and Franks also discussed relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States, Saudi Press Agency said.
Franks said on Saturday from Kuwait that US forces were “prepared to undertake whatever activities and whatever actions we may be directed to take by our nation.”
The United States has welcomed a Saudi pledge to cooperate if the UN Security Council endorses an attack against Iraq.
Franks, who is on a regional tour, also visited on Saturday the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Meanwhile, Prince Abdullah received a telephone call from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat dealing with the Israeli siege of his compound. SPA said Arafat contacted the prince on Saturday, his second call in 24 hours, to explain the hardships the Palestinian leadership is facing in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Prince Abdullah reiterated his government’s pledge of solidarity with the Palestinians against the brutal Israeli aggression and again called for an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the report said. Prince Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday discussed the Israeli siege of Arafat, in a phone call. They examined “the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and the siege imposed on the Palestinian people and its leadership by the Israeli authorities,” SPA said.
Mubarak on Saturday sent a message to US President George W. Bush requesting his immediate intervention to end Arafat’s siege. But the Israeli Army yesterday tightened its blockade around Arafat’s ruined headquarters, where the 73-year-old leader and around 250 people are crammed in four rooms. Also yesterday, Prince Abdullah received participants in the Oxford Banking Forum 2002 led by Prince Dr. Bandar ibn Salman, adviser at the Crown Prince’s Court. The forum was held on Saturday at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah.
