RIYADH/DAMMAM, 13 October — Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal yesterday reiterated the remarks about US Middle East policy which so angered New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani that he rejected a $10 million donation from the Saudi prince.
“Alwaleed insisted that the Palestinian cause should be the center of bigger attention to find a just solution to the Middle East crisis,” said a statement issued by the Kingdom Holding Company, of which Prince Alwaleed is the chairman.
“Although Alwaleed in his statement (in New York) strongly denounced terrorism, his stance on US foreign policy was not to the liking of Mayor Giuliani and some of the US media,” the statement said
Prince Alwaleed denied that he had received the check back. However, he warned that if it was returned he would not sign any other check in favor of any organization working to help the victims’ families.
Giuliani turned down Prince Alwaleed’s donation for victims of the World Trade Center suicide plane attack on Thursday after the prince said: “The government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause.”
“Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,” he said in a statement released by the mayor’s office on Thursday. At a news conference, Giuliani said: “Not only are those statements wrong, they are part of the problem.”
The prince also said on Thursday he condemned terrorism and expressed condolences for the more than 5,000 people killed when hijacked jets slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was surprised that New York’s mayor had rejected a donation from a Saudi prince.
“We are all entitled to freedom of expression. The prince gave his opinion, and I’m surprised the mayor reacted so strongly and returned the check,” he said.
Prince Alwaleed, the Kingdom’s most prominent businessman, rang NBC television channel after touching back down in Riyadh to justify his remarks.
NBC’s reporter Andrea Mitchell said Prince Alwaleed had told her he was not backing off his statement and had “a big stake in New York financially and puts his money where his mouth is.” Prince Alwaleed is listed by Forbes Magazine as the sixth richest man in the world with a fortune of more than $20 billion.
The State Department said yesterday it found “highly inappropriate” the comments by Prince Alwaleed, but spokesman Richard Boucher said the department had nothing to do with the return of the money and stressed that it had not been consulted by Giuliani before he made his decisions.
“We do object to Prince Alwaleed’s remarks,” Boucher told reporters. “We find his remarks on the Middle East highly inappropriate.”
“What we find objectionable is linking the Sept. 11 attacks with Israeli policy or US policy in the Middle East,” he said. “We think there’s no excuse for the murder of innocent civilians.”
Saudis and expatriates here in the Kingdom expressed their shock and surprise over the rejection of the $10 million donation, saying that the US officials are no longer serving the cause of justice and peace in the Middle East.
“The rejection of Prince Alwaleed’s donation by the US mayor has irked public sentiments in the Islamic world, including in Saudi Arabia. This is an episode which once again shows the arrogance of US officials, who have no concern about the Palestinian issue,” said a Pakistani engineer Nasim Kamran.
Nizam Addien B. Yagoub, speaking to Arab News in downtown Riyadh, commented that “prince’s only sin was voicing the views of over 1.2 billion Arabs and Muslims in the world.”
Yagoub added that “the prince rightly said that he was representing public opinion in the Kingdom. I am saddened to see that the US, a country that prides itself on upholding values such as respect for human rights and freedom of speech, has responded in such a way to a gracious gesture from a young prince on behalf of the innocent victims of the attacks.”
Another local businessman, Sulaiman Al-Bahloul, spoke angrily and claimed that the whole business community condemned the behavior of the US official.
“A large number of innocent Muslims are being killed in many parts of the world, including Afghanistan, South Asia, Central America, Europe, and above all in the Middle East — all as a direct result of US foreign policy,” he said.
He blasted the attitude of the officials in the US, which has rewarded Israel with $5.5 billion in aid as well as arms and ammunition.
“We are paying a price for supporting and befriending the US and the West, who in turn are bent on prosecuting nation after nation in the Islamic world,” said an Indian expatriate in Riyadh, Mannan Ahmad.
Officials at the Chamber of Commerce in the Eastern Province also condemned Giuliani for rejecting the $10 million donation, which they said smacked of “arrogance”.
Saudi businessmen said that the statement by Prince Alwaleed reflected the known stand of the Kingdom on the Palestinian issue.
“What did the New York mayor expect? An endorsement of US policy on the Middle East?” asked a leading businessman whose group deals in steel. “Did he expect us to express our support of Israel and its Zionist policies?”
One of the leading automobile agent said the rejection reflected arrogance and an escape from reality. “Certainly the US should review its policy on the Middle East and take a bolder and more pragmatic stand on Palestine,” he said.
Abdullah Al-Qahtani, a trading company director, said: “It was an insult to the humanitarian gesture of Prince Alwaleed and it should be officially protested.”
Steve Mennosa, an American working for a petrochemical plant, said the mayor’s move was “deplorable” and will widen the gap between the West and the East. “He has made us a laughing stock. No sane person would approve of such a rejection.”
Qudrat Ali, a Pakistani who is the general manager of a commercial establishment in Dammam, said he was not surprised by the rejection.
“Mayor Giuliani from day one never kept secret his hatred and prejudice toward Muslims in general and Arabs in particular. His initial statements were too inflammatory and anti-Muslim. He has not insulted Prince Alwaleed only, but all the people who came forward to help the victims.”
Fahd Al-Maliki, a final year student at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, said it appears that Mayor Giuliani wants the whole world to support the US policy in the Middle East. “It looks like they want to exploit the Sept. 11 tragedy for their benefit and change public opinion,” he commented.
