JEDDAH, 21 January 2003 — Russia wants the international community to impose a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli issue. According to former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, Moscow now believes that with the peace process stalemated, the quartet — the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia — should work out a final solution with moderate Arab states which the UN would then impose on the Israelis and Palestinians.
Primakov, now president of Russia’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry but with a close ear to President Vladimir Putin, was speaking on the final day of the Jeddah Economic Forum.
The solution, he said, should be based on the plan worked out by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard: Israel must unconditionally withdraw to its pre-1967 borders; a Palestinian state must be created; and Arab governments must recognize Israel.
It was no good waiting for the Israelis and Palestinians to resolve the issue themselves, the former premier told delegates to the forum. The world wants a settlement now, in particular, because the conflict feeds international terrorism.
There was a precedent for such action. Israel, he said, had not been created through negotiations between Jews and Arabs. It had been created by the will of the international community which forced Arabs to accept it. Such action should happen again, he said. Primakov condemned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s attack earlier in the week on the quartet and his suggestion that the US and Israel should alone decide the next step.
This was unacceptable to Russia, to the Arabs, even to the US, which he said was after 9/11 no longer interested in monopolizing the role of Mideast mediator.
As to an attack against Iraq, Primakov warned that it could redivide the world into two blocs, as was the case during the Cold War. Echoing Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilization theory, he feared this time the divide would be “on the basis of religion and civilizations” — between Islamic and non-Islamic states.
It could even break up countries themselves, he warned, such as Russia with its 20 million Muslims and those states in Europe with growing Muslim populations. The US, with its Muslim population, itself would not be immune. He criticized Washington for not listening to Iraq’s Arab neighbors. While they would be happy to see the end of Saddam Hussein, they could not support an attack because of the “potentially revolutionary consequences” might have for them.
Primakov, an Arabic speaker, is regarded in some quarters as sympathetic to Iraq. He tried unsuccessfully to prevent a war between Iraq and the Alliance of Western and Arab powers after the invasion of Kuwait.
On oil prices, Primakov warned that despite growing demand, the long term trend is downward. Quite apart from new sources of energy being developed, much more oil will be produced, he said, not least from Russia. There is oil in the north of the country although it is yet to be developed while in the Caspian Sea zone reserves are comparable to those of the North Sea, even possibly to those of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom, he suggested, needs to invest in other areas to earn an income.
