RIYADH, 23 February 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah held talks here yesterday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on major regional and international issues and ways of strengthening bilateral ties.
The meeting at the king’s farm in Janadriya, near Riyadh, was attended by top officials including Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Prince Muqrin, chief of general intelligence, and Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi ambassador to the US.
“King Abdullah and Rice later held a bilateral meeting and discussed issues and latest developments at regional and international levels,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Addressing a press conference here later along with Prince Saud, Rice said her discussions with the king ranged from the Syrian-Lebanese conflict, situations in Iran and Iraq to ways to strengthen Saudi-US relations.
“We are keen to increase contacts between the people of Saudi Arabia and America,” she added.
Referring to the incident in Iraq as “tragic”, she said, “The people who want to tear the Iraqi people apart are behind it (the bombing of a mosque in Samarra). It was time now for the Iraqi people to denounce terror and restate their unity in the strongest of terms.”
Replying to a question on how the US would deal with the Hamas equation in the Middle East peace process, she said: “The US position is similar to the position held by the United Nations and Russia, which calls for certain responsibilities to come with governance. It is necessary for peace in Palestine that recognition of Israel is accepted by Hamas.”
Prince Saud said that this was the fifth meeting between him and Rice in the last six months, emphasizing the improving Saudi-US ties.
He also said that King Abdullah received a letter from President Bush stressing the deepening of relations and the commitment to implement the decisions made in Crawford when the two leaders last met.
He also said that the US-Saudi Strategic Dialogue panel had already met twice, once in the US and the second time in Saudi Arabia, and would be having their third meeting in the US soon.
He also said that both the Saudis and the US are committed to peace in Palestine and stressed the need for implementing the road map peace plan while also urging the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
Commenting on the situation in Iraq, Prince Saud said that the Kingdom condemned terror in general and suicide attacks against civilians. He also hoped that the new Iraqi government would find a solution to curb these attacks while calling for unity among the Iraqis under the legislative law.
Before arriving in the Saudi capital on the second leg of her trip, Rice held talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, which focused on the aftermath of Hamas’ victory last month in Palestinian elections.
During a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit yesterday, she reiterated the tough stance of her administration on Hamas.
“You cannot have one foot in the camp of terror and another foot in the camp of politics,” she said, adding that the international community expected Hamas to recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Hamas has used softer language since its resounding electoral victory over the mainstream Fatah but has stopped short of considering normalizing of relations with the Jewish state.
But Egypt has argued that Washington must respect the outcome of the democratic Palestinian elections and should not rush to boycott a government led by Hamas.
— With input from agencies
