JEDDAH, 12 October 2006 — Crown Prince Sultan yesterday dismissed as “ridiculous” Israeli press reports that secret talks had taken place between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and senior Saudi officials.
“It is ridiculous to think that a Saudi met with an Israeli, and even more ridiculous to speak of a meeting with Saudi leaders,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the crown prince as saying.
In a previous statement, a Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman had said reports of contacts between Saudi and Israeli officials were “fabricated.”
Speaking to reporters after presiding over a meeting of the board of trustees of the Prince Sultan Charitable Foundation, the crown prince said that the government was studying the matter of revising school textbooks in accordance with Shariah law.
Answering another question, he said the government was closely following the case of Saudi student Humaidan Al-Turki who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States. “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is personally following the case. And we all know that when the king says something, he does it,” said the crown prince.
Sultan said he hoped peace and stability would prevail in Iraq after the new Iraqi government was established. He also hoped that rival Palestinian groups would settle their differences for the sake of the Palestinian people.
Asked about the talks he had recently in Yemen during a meeting of the Saudi-Yemeni Coordination Council, he said that the talks were “fruitful and served the interests of both nations.”
While chairing the foundation’s board meeting, Prince Sultan announced a donation of SR200 million to the charity as part of his efforts to promote its humanitarian activities. He also said that the foundation would continue to focus on three main elements: health, education, and technology.
Sultan had earlier listened to a report on the foundation’s achievements during the past year. The foundation’s budget for 2007 was also discussed at the meeting.
The board meeting took a number of important steps including the decision to increase the number of beds in its medical center to 236 by 2007 and to set up housing units for the center’s employees.
The crown prince gave directives to the board that all soccer players of the Kingdom’s National Special Needs Team who recently won the Learning Disability World Cup be given free access to the foundation’s facilities.
The Prince Sultan Charitable Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1995 in Riyadh. It consists of three main projects: Prince Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz City for Humanitarian Services, Prince Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz Program for Medical and Educational Communication and Prince Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz Center for Science and Technology.
All three offer rehabilitation, medical, and social services for the elderly as well as for people with special needs. The foundation also contributes to the development of medical education in the Kingdom and has supported many national and international conferences and seminars.
