Stating that Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance respects all faiths, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, has said that lack of tolerance in some societies breeds terror and oppression, the most glaring example of which is the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.
Prince Abdullah’s speech at the opening of a four-day symposium on “Islam and the dialogue of civilizations” in Riyadh on Monday was read out on his behalf by Prince Miteb ibn Abdullah, assistant deputy commander of the National Guard for military affairs.
In his keynote address, Abdullah urged Israelis to reject Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s policies, likening him to the Roman emperor which popular legend accuses of fiddling while ancient Rome burned.
“The question that persists in this issue that is preoccupying the world today is: did today’s Nero...read the history of his nation and the lessons it tells,” Prince Abdullah said.
“What he is doing in Palestine is the (product) of dream-like thinking that will not achieve security for his people...it is a type of thinking that requires his people to ask themselves ‘where is our prime minister leading us to?’”
Prince Abdullah expressed hope that the Middle East peace plan he floated recently would not stumble amid the battles of blood and destruction. “This (violence) is a thorny path. It will not give his people security. It plants hatred and shatters security,” the prince told a gathering of intellectuals.
Prince Abdullah said Israel could never live in peace and security except “through justice, and through giving the Palestinian people and other Arabs their legitimate historical rights.” (Albawaba.com)
