VIENNA, 2 April 2004 — Terrorism, the Middle East peace process and Iraq topped the agenda at talks yesterday between Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and Austrian leaders.
Prince Abdullah, on a three-day state visit to Austria, told President Thomas Klestil and Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel that Islam is “a religion of peace, of love and of tolerance” and that terrorists “are but a tiny minority sidelined for sins which have nothing to do with Islam and Muslims.”
The two sides discussed international issues led by the Palestinian cause and the suffering of the Palestinian people, and the situation in Iraq, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Klestil praised Prince Abdullah’s peace initiative in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said attacks worldwide, including in Riyadh and most recently Madrid, pressed home the importance of international efforts against terrorism.
At a press conference after bilateral meetings, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told journalists both sides expressed great concern about Israeli actions in the occupied territories, which had scuppered the peace process and were “being carried out in the hope of creating new realities on the ground and making new negotiations futile,” he said. He said the Kingdom and Austria supported the US-backed road map but “both also agreed that there is a great chance for peace to succeed if there is a joint action between the Arab countries and the European Union.”
