On Jan. 6, Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, delivered the annual address of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to the Shoura Council. The address and an accompanying written speech articulated Saudi Arabia’s internal and external policies, highlighting its determination to combat terrorism and extremism and called for dialogue and tolerance.
The terrorist attacks in Paris on Jan. 7 underlined the importance of those messages, demonstrating once again the global spread of terrorism and the need for concerted international action to defeat it.
The king’s annual address to the Shoura Council is always highly anticipated, but this year it was especially timely. Over the past year, several dramatic events have taken place in the region, including the rise of the so-called Islamic State (IS), which led to a quantum jump in terrorism’s brutality and reach. Within Saudi Arabia, we witnessed the first case of communal violence in the attack against a Shiite gathering in Al-Ahsa on Oct. 3, 2014. In the meantime, Iranian-inspired attacks have continued against security forces in the eastern city of Awamiya. We also witnessed emboldened terrorist attacks on our borders, the latest of which was the attack on a border post in the northern city of Arar on Jan. 5. In addition, regional problems have become only bloodier and more complicated, in Palestine and Yemen, as well as Syria and Iraq. Iran’s meddling in the internal affairs of countries in the region has also increased, contrary to expectations that it would moderate its regional behavior in light of the ongoing negotiations with the international community over its nuclear program. The only perceptible change has been in its public statements addressed to the West. Meanwhile, the region has felt the seismic effects of oil price fall by about 60 percent since last summer, with sizable repercussions here and abroad, some of which may be positive but most are not.
King Abdullah’s Shoura address recalled the “unprecedented regional challenges, resulting from the grave crises afflicting neighboring countries and pushing them toward a quagmire of civil wars and sectarian conflicts.”
It then referred to “developments” in international oil markets “caused by several factors, the most important of which is weakening growth in the international economy.”
The address and the accompanying speech dealt in some detail with Saudi Arabia’s oil policy, as well as overall economic policy. To appreciate those new economic directions, I will devote a separate essay to the subject.
Today, I will comment on the twin issues of terrorism and extremism. The word “terrorism” appeared nine times in the speech, more than any other subject, referring to it as “the disease that has plagued the world and metastasized everywhere, harming Muslims more than any other group, including in our own country.” The speech referred to some of the ways in which Saudi Arabia has confronted this “plague”, including the following:
l Adoption of a new legal framework to combat terrorism and terrorism financing.
l Police work, including preemptive raids to thwart terrorists’ plans and arrest those implicated.
l Judicial work, including trials of terrorism suspects and applying deterrent punishments on those convicted, in accordance with the law.
l Multilateral cooperation with the UN and other bodies to combat terrorism. Saudi Arabia was “the first to call for the establishment of the International Center for Counterterrorism,” for which it pledged $100 million.
l Saudi Arabia has led efforts within the GCC as well as at other Arab, Muslim and international fora to establish a united front against terrorism. The speech referred in particular to the successful efforts of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to “restore cohesion to the GCC, support its integration, and preserve its security and stability, as priorities for the achievement of full cooperation, integration and unity in all areas,” including combating terrorism.
l Military work, as Saudi Arabia constitutes an important part of the international military campaign against terrorism.
l Combating extremism, as the intellectual incubator of terrorism, by intensifying the efforts of “scholars, preachers, and intellectuals to refute terrorists’ thought and show its dangers to religion and security.”
King Abdullah has addressed the link between terrorism and intellectual extremism many times before. In a previous article in Arab News (Kingdom fighting terror with iron fist, Oct. 14, 2014), I discussed in some detail how he made the link between the two. For example, he addressed pilgrims during the last Haj season, pointing out that facing extremism starts at home, continues at school and mosque, and needs the support of scholars, preachers, writers, intellectuals, and all opinion and society leaders.
It is important to recall that the king has had a historical role in establishing the concepts of dialogue and tolerance in how Saudi society should face terrorism and extremism. In July 2003, he announced, while still crown prince, the establishment of the National Dialogue Center, noting at the time that the center’s mission was to “create a channel for responsible expression that will have an effective role in fighting intolerance, zealotry and extremism, and establish a hospitable climate from which wise positions and enlightened opinions could emanate to reject terrorism and terrorists’ thought.”
Those words in 2003, together with the “national dialogue” that ensued, established for the first time “moderation” and “dialogue,” concepts that hitherto were unknown, or unacceptable, to many quarters in Saudi society. The king’s words at the Shoura Council last week reminded us that the fight was far from over against terrorism, including combating the bogus intellectual justifications that terrorists posit. The Paris events have made the same point in sharp and bloody relief.
