Posted on 01/23/2009 10:10:05 AM PST by Bokababe
London, 23 Jan. (AKI) - A prominent member of Saudi Arabia's royal family has warned US President Barack Obama that the Middle East peace process was at risk unless Washington altered its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In an article published in the British Financial Times Prince Turki al-Faisal said that Israel had come close to "killing the prospect of peace" with its recent military offensive in Gaza.
"Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk," said Turki, a former Saudi intelligence chief and former ambassador to the US and Britain.
More than 1,300 Palestinians, many of them women and children, were killed and 5,000 others were wounded during Israel's military action, which ended with a ceasefire Sunday.
Israel said the campaign was designed to root out Hamas militants who fired rockets into the Jewish state. Thirteen Israelis were killed.
Obama, sworn in as president in an historic ceremony in Washington on Tuesday, has named former Senator George Mitchell as Middle East envoy.
Turki said former Bush administration had left a "sickening legacy" in the Middle East and the Saudi kingdom's "special relationship" with the US would be threatened if the Obama administration failed to radically alter its approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Bush administration had also contributed to the "slaughter of innocents" in Gaza, said Turki.
President Obama put the Middle East at the centre of his foreign policy agenda when on his first day of office he telephoned the Israeli premier Ehud Olmert, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and president of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
Turki holds no official government position in the world's top crude oil exporter but his views reflect a broader frustration in the al-Saud royal family over recent US policy in the Middle East.
"If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact -- especially its 'special relationship' with Saudi Arabia -- it will have to drastically revise its policies vis-a-vis Israel and Palestine," Turki wrote.
He said Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had written to Saudi King Abdullah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz Al Saud last week urging Saudi Arabia to lead a "jihad," or holy war, against Israel.
As much as Bush bent over backwards to satisfy the Saudis, it wasn't enough -- it will never be enough! What they want is for us to allow the destruction of Israel.
IMHO, we should have taken out Saudi Arabia right after 9/11, and we wouldn't have the problems we do today!
The irony here is Obama already agrees with what this Saudi is saying here.
Watch and see. Within 30 days, President Obama will ask the Congress for a dramatic increase in funding for ‘Gaza’.
The Saudi definition of “peace” - Israel ceasing to exist. Sorry prince, ain’t going to happen. OUR GOD says so, not your pagan moon-god.
Exactly. Arabs shooting at Israelis is like the weather; it is always with us.
It is when Israelis shoot back that, by definition, the peace is breached.
Here come the threats...and Hussein will fold...
“Peace process?”
“Prospect of peace?”
What the heck is he talking about??
So, it is an outrage that Israel should stop thousands of missiles raining down on them? How would that Saudi pig feel if a Pali pig’s missile killed *his* family? We should invade Saudi terroristland and make them our little colony.
Clinton foundation contributor?????
I suppose this will be right up their alley:
Hamas Calls For ‘Giant Summit’ With All Israelis
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/45357
Agreed. The American Jewish community that overwhelmingly supported The One must not care much about Israel.
I love how they never say what we should change, just that we should.
Bush did way too much to appease the murderers. We should do nothing to help the “palestinians.” We should withhold all funding until the rockets stop falling.
The sand rats are already calling the shots, Obamabi just got his marching orders from Saudi Arabia, it on the news right now.
Except for Israel, leave the middle east to the Arabs. If they can’t figure it out......oh well. Let them do what they will with each other.
And steal their oil.
And Barry immediately responded to Prince Turki al-Faisal with:
"Uh, yes, your highness, I'll uh, ah, immediately ask uh, Greg Craig, um, uh, how we're going to do that."
The American Jewish community is simply the dumbest demographic of them all. They demonstrated it every election cycle.
How a faith that was almost wiped out in large part because they didn’t have the means to defend themselves in the last century continues to support insane gun control legislation, and thereby chooses to remain personally defenseless is beyond me.
At this point I just write them off as a lost cause.
One of the most important life lesson’s I’ve learned is this:
You can protect anybody from anything...but themselves.
Exactly! Who cares what some [insert abusive name here] Saudi wants.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
I know that I will irritate many by saying this, but over the years, we have screwed ourselves — and Israel.
Back in 1970’s, when US Presidents first started trying to negotiate “Peace in the ME”, the US was in a position of strength and so was Israel. The Palestinians and most of the Arab world were perceived as a bunch of raggedy sand-sucking terrorists with no credibility. We were in a position to favor Israel.
But as the years past, and we allowed Saudis to invest so much in US land, US Universities, US media outlets and other US & Western corporations, the Saudis began to use their influence against the US and against Israel. As we continued to hand out foreign aid to Arab countries at three times the rate as we did Israel, the Arab position was strengthened and Israel’s influence in the US fell. As we continued to be addicted to Arab oil with our gas-guzzling SUV’s, we unwittingly continued to strengthen the Saudi position, de facto strengthening the Palestinian position.
Now the US is broke, in a substantially weakened position and we are largely forced into a corner. Obama must think what he is willing to sacrifice in order to jump-start this economy and gas prices hitting the roof would scuttle everything he wants to accomplish. So who or what is the easiest thing to “sacrifice” to get things moving for America? Israel. Oh it won’t look like an outright “sacrifice” — it will be wrapped in the noble-sounding “Peace in the ME” packaging, but it likely will be a new Palestinian state.
This is why I always worried about Israel being so totally hitched to the US wagon. When the US was in a position of strength, that was good for Israel and us. But now that we are down, does anyone really think that Israel matters more to every average American than their ability to drive to and from work? In all honesty, I don’t think so. And this is the group that Obama is playing to, not the thinkers, the US “masses”. I think that he can and will kick Israel to the curb in a heartbeat and coat it in frosting sweet enough that even some Jewish liberals will be licking their fingers.
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