Riyadh, December 16: Saudi Arabia blames the United States for the conflict in the Middle East, saying Washington has given Israel its “absolute support.”
“Absolute US backing… has made Israel see the option of living in the area without the acceptance of the people of the area,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the International Herald Tribune in an interview published Wednesday.
“This has led to many years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”
The foreign minister regretted the failure of his efforts to establish a Palestinian state and regional peace during his 35 years in office, saying reaching peace in the present circumstances was as difficult as holding water in one’s hand.
“And how can you have any pleasure in anything that happens when you have people like the Palestinians living as they are?” he lamented.
The long-standing stalemate in the Middle East peace talks — further smothered by Israel’s January offensive against the Gaza Strip and the death of more than 1,400 Palestinians in the conflict —lingers on as Israeli keeps refusing a permanent and complete freeze on its settlement expansion.
Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday reiterated that Israel must fulfill its previous commitments before a return to peace talks.
——Agencies