[News] Saudi Crocodile Tears Over Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Saudi Crocodile Tears Over Gaza

Posted: 07/28/2014 4:38 pm EDT Updated: 07/28/2014 6:59 pm EDT
*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-hearst/saudi-crocodile-tears-ove_b_5628185.html?fb_action_ids=10103335615955693&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582*

It is tough work being the Saudi ambassador to the UK. First, you have 
to stir yourself into action to deny the undeniable: The Israeli attack 
on Gaza comes with Saudi backing. That, in itself, is demeaning. But no 
sooner has your wrath been righteously expressed, than a colleague 
contradicts you. Worse still, he's the boss's brother. What is a prince 
to do?

In his reply to mycolumn 
<http://middleeasteye.net/columns/saudi-israeli-alliance-forged-blood-601611381>, 
Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud wrote 
<http://embassies.mofa.gov.sa/sites/uk/EN/AboutDiplomaticMission/MissionNews/Pages/ennews26072014.aspx>: 
"To think that Saudi Arabia, which has committed itself to supporting 
and protecting the rights of all Palestinians to self-determination and 
sovereignty would knowingly support the Israeli action is quite frankly 
a grotesque insult." He then admits "dealings" between the Kingdom and 
Israel but claims those "limited to bring about a plan for peace." Then 
he says:

    "The Palestinian people are our brothers and sisters -whether they
    are Muslim Arabs or Christian Arabs. Be assured we, the people and
    Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will never ever give up
    on them, we will never do anything to harm them, we will do all we
    can to help them in their rightful claim to their own homeland and
    return of lands taken illegally from them."

Hardly was the ink dry on this official news release, when Prince Turki 
al-Faisal, Bin Nawaf's predecessor as UK ambassador, former intelligence 
chief and the brother of the current foreign minister wrote inal-Sharq 
al-Awast <http://m.arabi21.com/Story/765080>that Hamas was to blame for 
firing rockets and for refusing to accept Egypt's ceasefire plan (which 
would have disarmed them). This is Israel's and Egypt's view too.

So which is it? Does the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia support Palestinians in 
their resistance to the occupation? Or does it support the siege manned 
by Israel and Egypt, until Gaza is demilitarized? These are two clear 
policies -- support for the Palestinian resistance to the occupation and 
ending the siege of Gaza, or keeping the siege in place until all 
factions in Gaza are disarmed. Either Israel is engaging in genocide 
(strong words, Mr. Ambassador) or the resisters are terrorists who must 
be disarmed. Decide what it is you want the Kingdom to say. You can't 
say both. You can't swear allegiance to the Palestinians and give a nod 
and a wink to their killers.

And are the kingdom's dealings with Israel really "limited to bring 
about a plan for peace"? You are privy to the cables, Mr. Ambassador. 
Tell us what passed between Prince Bandar and the Mossad director Tamir 
Pardo at that hotel in Aqaba in November last year. The Jordanians 
leaked it to anIsraeli newspaper in Eilat 
<http://www.ereverev.co.il/article.asp?id=19782>. Were Bandar and Pardo: 
1. soaking up the winter sun, 2. talking about the Arab Peace 
Initiative, or 3. plotting how to bomb Iran?

And why are your new friends the Israelis being so loquacious? Why, to 
take the latest example, did Dan Gillerman, Israeli ambassador to the UN 
2003-08, say at the weekend that "representatives from the Gulf states 
told us to finish the job in Gaza time and again." Finish the job? 
Killing over 1,000 Palestinians, most of them civilian. Is that what you 
meant when you said "we will never do anything to harm them"?

The carnage in Gaza at least gives the world clear sight of the 
protagonists. The wonder of it is that all are American allies, three 
have US bases on their soil and a fourth is a member of Nato. America's 
problems in the Middle East are more to do with their sworn allies than 
their sworn enemies.

On one side, stands Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates 
and Jordan. They consider themselves the voice of reason and moderation, 
but their methods are violent -- the military coup in Egypt and the 
attack on Gaza have all happened in the space of 12 months. On the 
other, stands Turkey, Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood and its affliate Hamas.

We should, however, talk of governments rather people, because one 
reason why the government of Saudi Arabia has such an extreme position 
on Hamas and the Brotherhood in general, is that it knows full well that 
its own people don't share their view.

Saudi Arabia's leading pollster Rakeen found that 95 percent out of a 
representative sample of 2,000 Saudis supported the continuation of the 
Palestinian resistance factions. Only three per cent did not. Eighty-two 
percent supported the firing of rockets into Israel and 14 percent 
opposed it. The kingdom's hatred of Islamism stems not from the fact 
that it presents a rival interpretation of Islam. It is that it presents 
to a believer, a democratic alternative. That is what really scares the 
monarchy.

The proof of all those secret Saudi-Israeli meetings is to be seen in 
the behavior of Egypt. It is impossible to believe that its new 
president Abdel Fattah al Sisi could act towards Hamas in Gaza 
independently of his paymasters in Riyadh. He who pays the piper -- $5 
billion after the coup, $20 billion now -- calls the tune.

Sisi sees Hamas entirely through the prism of the Muslim Brotherhood he 
deposed last year. Hamas is villified in the lickspittle Egyptian press 
as the enemy of Egypt. A trickle of aid has been allowed through the 
border crossing at Rafah, and it is sporadically opened to a few 
thousand wounded Palestinians. The Israeli Army is not alone in blowing 
up Hamas' tunnels. The Egyptian army announced recently they had blown 
up 13 more, a deed which earned them the title of being "a sincere 
neighbor" of Israel. Sisi is content to let Hamas and Gaza take a 
hammering, and make no efforts to get a ceasefire. The last initiative 
was not even negotiated with Hamas.

Mubarak made a similar miscalculation during the 2006 incursion into 
Lebanon, supporting an operation which he believed would cripple 
Hezbollah. In the end he was forced to send his son Gamal to Beirut to 
express Egypt's support for the Lebanese people. Both the kingdom and 
Sisi know that dropping the Palestinian card is a risky business.

Saudi Arabia is treading a fine line. According to my sources, 
Netanyahu's rejection of Kerry's peace initiative over the weekend was 
due in part to the full support of its Arab allies. Saudi Arabia's 
active support is keeping this brutal war going.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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