Friday, July 31, 2009

Saudi Arabia Rejects President Obama's Approach To Middle East Peace

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (L) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Photo AFP.


Saudis Reject 'Incrementalism' Of U.S.-Backed Peace Plan -- CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saudi Arabia on Friday bluntly rejected a call for step-by-step moves toward Middle East peace, an approach supported by the United States.

The United States had hoped that the Saudis would announce "confidence-building measures" that would break the current impasse and lead to a new round of talks.

"Incrementalism and a step-by-step approach has not and -- we believe -- will not lead to peace," Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said at the State Department Friday after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Read more ....

My Comment: This is a major rejection and repudiation of President Obama's approach towards resolving the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. This is a major setback .... and one that has been completely under reported in the American Press.

More News On Saudi Arabia's Rejection Of U.S. Middle East Peace Efforts

Saudi FM puts burden on Israel to make peace -- AFP
Saudi Minister Takes Hard Line Against Peace Gestures to Israel -- Voice of America
Saudi Arabia rejects U.S. pleas on Israel -- Reuters
Saudi rebuffs US on improving ties with Israel -- AP
S Arabia rejects ties with Israel -- Al Jazeera
Remarks With Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal -- U.S. Department Of State

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Not just American press- its under reported EVERYWHERE! This is HUGE!
Mind you you can kind of understand why the Saudi's are a bit annoyed.
They spend years trying to get Israel to the table, they even recently offered a peace suggestion that would have had Israel formally recognised by every Muslim nation on Earth...

And still Israel will not play ball!
Meanwhile in the Cold War between Saudi and Iran to see who will be THE dominant Muslim superpower... Saudi's promises of peaceful dialogue with Israel keep failing and Iran's pawns Hamas and Hezbollah can defy Israel and seemingly not just get away with it- but WIN!

No wonder they are annoyed.

The stakes are high- either the West backs the Saudi plan which basically tells Israel to put up or shut up (far more than the current climate); or they ignore the Saudi's... and play into Iran's hands.

Israel has shown it cannot defeat Hamas and Hezbollah by military means...

So in the end that means is eventually they will have to sit down with people to talk out a peace process.
Sooner or later really... and the later they leave it, the more it plays into the hands of the Iranians by the looks of things...