ALKHOBAR: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom, in an Op-Ed piece that appeared in Sunday’s New York Times, called on Israel to return Arab lands if it truly wants peace. He said that as a leader of the Arab world, Saudi Arabia would make no further peace initiatives until Arab lands seized during the Six-Day War in 1967 had been returned. The lands in question include East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Syria’s Golan Heights and Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms. The prince, who now serves as chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, noted that Israel had continued to occupy those territories despite condemnations by the UN Security Council and violations of the fourth Geneva Convention.
He called on Israel to remove its settlements from the West Bank as a show of good faith and cited several peace initiatives that had stalled because of its intransigence on these issues. “Israel has never presented any comprehensive formulation of a peace plan,” the prince wrote in the New York Times. “Saudi Arabia, to the contrary, has done so twice: the Fahd Peace Plan of 1982 and the Abdullah Peace Initiative of 2002. Both were endorsed by the Arab world, and both were ignored by Israel.”
He commended US President Barak Obama for his insistence on a settlement freeze, but he noted that Israel had consistently ignored such calls and continued its illegal development of Arab territories.
The prince feels there should be no overtures for peace until Israel begins the return of occupied lands, noting that the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord did not advance until Israel pledged the return of all Egyptian land it held.
“Until Israel heeds President Obama’s call for the removal of all settlements, the world must be under no illusion that Saudi Arabia will offer what the Israelis most desire — regional recognition,” the prince wrote.
“We are willing to shake the hands of any partner in peace, but only after they have released their grip on Arab lands.”
