Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud has called more effective and balanced American and European role to bolster the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians, and voiced his country’s support for a Palestinian demand for an international monitoring force.
The crown prince, who has been running day-to-day affairs in the kingdom for the past five years on behalf of his ailing brother, King Fahd, was speaking in an interview with the British Financial Times newspaper.
He warned that an escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would raise the specter of terrorism in the Middle East.
“We fear that terrorism out of the region would engulf the world," he says. "There could even be a regional war. Why wouldn't there be?" the prince said.
Since the eruption of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the crown prince has openly criticized the US over its support for Israel. His frustration appeared to be aggravated when the Bush administration took over and sought a more hands-off approach to the conflict, said the paper, quoting him as saying, “All we want [from the US and Europe] is justice and respect for human rights."
"We want them to look at the reality and to consider their conscience. Don't they see what is happening to Palestinian children, women, the elderly - the humiliation, the hunger?"
Abdullah shrugged off criticism that he has radicalized Saudi foreign policy, pointing out that the kingdom has accepted "every peace initiative irrespective of its source.”
He stressed, however, that Saudi Arabia's weight in the Arab World carried a responsibility that should not be taken lightly.
"We are the country with high credibility with all parties in the Arab and Islamic worlds," he says. "Maybe we are also the one qualified to persuade all concerned to come to the peace table. But we cannot play this role . . . while Israel continually frustrates every peace initiative."
The Ccrown prince ruled out using Saudi oil to exert political pressure on the West.
The comments come as the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon travels to Washington after talks in London to try to increase international pressure on the Palestinians to observe the ceasefire.
Abdullah blamed the leadership in Iraq for hindering any attempt to improve the conditions of the Iraqi people, and said that United Nations sanctions and American policy on Iraq were not intended to target ordinary people.
At the level of internal reforms, “the crown prince provoked a backlash from the powerful conservative establishment when he called for greater participation for women in society, though he had specified that it would be within the confines of Islamic values,” said the paper.
The crown prince has been keen to underline that he is, at all times, implementing the decisions of the king. "I am only serving my country," he told the paper.
He added that a stable regional political environment was essential for the reforms needed to accelerate growth and create jobs.
Per capita income in Saudi Arabia has shrunk from more than $16,000 in the early 1980s to about $7,000 in recent years. As the population grows at 3.5 percent a year, half of it under the age of 18, Saudis have discovered the anguish of unemployment - a potential source of social tension.
With the private sector accustomed to hiring a cheap and efficient expatriate workforce - there are about 7 million foreign workers out of a total Saudi population of about 20 million - the crown prince has pushed for a "Saudization" of the workforce. He has also sought to attract foreign investment and encourage the return of the more than $800 billion held outside the country.
After persistent budget deficits in the 1990s, the oil recovery produced a $12 billion fiscal surplus last year and the government has proved prudent in its spending. But a new law to promote investment has been criticized for the long list of industries placed on a negative list - in other words, off-limits to foreign investors, said the Financial Times.
In the interview in Casablanca during the crown prince’s recent visit, Abdullah defended the pace of reforms, emphasizing that the government was "keen to progress with privatization in a way that would not negatively impact on the welfare of citizens, especially the less privileged."
Saudi Arabia will continue to prohibit foreign investment in the upstream oil sector, where production costs are low and the state-owned Saudi Aramco has the technological expertise needed for development. But the recent opening of the gas sector to international companies will bring in an initial $20 billion in investment, a figure that the crown prince said would double within a few years. The negative list in the investment law for the non-oil and gas sectors "is not final and is always revised with the aim of reducing it,” he said.
On political reform, the prince reacted “with a smile” to suggestions that plans for elected assemblies in smaller Gulf states would put pressure on the kingdom. "Saudi Arabia is a big country," he said.
Instead, he pointed to the increase this year in the number of members on the Shura Council, or Majlis, from 90 to 120, and suggested that wider responsibilities could be granted in the future to the body which enjoys no legislative powers, depending on "needs and changes" in society and government – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
