JEDDAH, 6 October 2004 — Saudi Ambassador in London Prince Turki Al-Faisal in a forthright speech during the Conservative Party’s annual conference, linked the sources of current terrorism to a disaffection and “sense of injustice that can be traced back to the World War I.”
Quoting Lord Crewe who said, “What we want is not a united Arabia, but a weak and disunited Arabia, split into little principalities as far as possible under our suzerainty — but incapable of coordinated action against us.”
Prince Turki described the division of the Middle East among the Western powers as like “portioning out cake”.
He pointed out that both then as now, Britain was playing a key role in “two of the most turbulent regions in the Middle East — the Palestinian territories and Iraq”, and that the British made promises of “fair play” to the indigenous Arabs in Palestine and promised a brighter future to the people of Iraq.
The British government, Prince Turki said, viewed with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, “but on one clear understanding, and I quote, ‘that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.’
“That promise was broken and has continued to be broken by the West. As I see it there a direct link between the events of yesterday and the terrible realities we face today.”
Turning to Iraq, he said that Britain also promised a brighter future for the people of Iraq. In 1917 Gen. Frederick Maude advanced up the Tigris with 150,000 British troops and took Baghdad. There he told the population that his armies did not come into their cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.
“So we face, nearly a hundred years apart,” he said, “the same problems in the same regions and the same promises. This unfair dealing and legacy of broken promises fuels terrorist activity and discontent.”
Calling for international unity through the UN to fight terrorism, Prince Turki said, “We can and must stand firm in our resolve to find a solution to these problems, not just in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East but in the world as a whole.”
The fact that 15 of the 19 terrorists who carried out the barbaric attack on Sept. 11 were Saudi Arabians, he said, was horrific to Saudis.
“It is something history will not allow us to forget. But we are and always have been against this group and against terrorist activity in all and every form.”
He stressed that Saudi Arabia fought against terrorist forces before and since 9/11 and “will continue to fight against these terrorist forces until the bitter end. Terrorism is against everything we believe in. Terrorism is as despicable to me as it is to you, as repellent to my government as it is to yours, as evil to Saudi Arabians as it is to Britons, as abhorrent to Muslims as it is to Christians and people of other faiths.”
In order to go forward into a better future he saw it as vital that the West and the Arab world work together — the Arab world and the West.
“We must join hands through the United Nations to help the people and government of Iraq and the people and government of Palestine. United we have the chance of success, divided the cracks of our dissent will harbor the tumors of discontent.”
