JEDDAH, 17 April 2004 — Saudi Arabia yesterday asked the United States to rethink its position on Palestinian rights.
“Convinced of the impact of America’s attitude to the chances for peace in the region, Saudi Arabia hopes that (the US) will reconsider the situation and do the needful to prevent a total collapse of the peace process,” an official told the Saudi Press Agency.
He was reacting to US backing for an Israeli plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip but retain vast stretches of the West Bank occupied in 1967 and effective dismissal of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to what is now Israel.
“No one has the right to make these concessions of the rights of the Palestinian people in their name,” the official said.
US President George W. Bush dropped a bombshell Wednesday when he announced after talks in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that it was “unrealistic” to expect Israel to pull out from all land captured in the 1967 war.
Drawing more Arab outrage, Bush said Palestinian refugees should not be allowed to return to land lost to Israel in 1948, when the Jewish state was created.
“The Kingdom was surprised by these views... because, if cemented, they will complicate peace opportunities and cripple the peace process on which the hopes and expectations of the international community are staked,” said the official.
“Instead of building on previous decisions and agreements, these views threaten to contradict those decisions and annul those agreements at a time when everyone is expecting positive developments in returning to the path of peace in the Middle East,” the official added.
Later yesterday, Bush said the two sides will still have to negotiate the “final status issues.” “All final status issues must still be negotiated between the parties,” Bush told a press conference after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The US leader did not say what the negotiations would include.
“I look forward to the day when those discussions can begin so the Israeli occupation can be ended and a free and independent and peaceful Palestinian state can emerge,” Bush said.
He was echoing an earlier statement by a White House spokesman, who said Bush’s about-face was a chance to move forward.
“This is an important opportunity for the Palestinian people... to move forward on the creation of a Palestinian state,” Scott McClellan said.
McClellan reiterated that the United States would consult with the other members of the diplomatic “quartet” that crafted the road map — Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.
In Tullamore, Ireland, EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said the quartet would likely meet around April 28 in Berlin.
An EU diplomat said the meeting would involve quartet foreign ministers and UN officials to appraise the status of the road map.
