Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki al-Faisal harshly criticized Israel on Sunday at the Manama Dialogue summit that was remotely attended by Israel’s foreign minister, demonstrating the chasm that still exists between the two nations as reports claim that a deal to establish diplomatic ties may happen soon.
The criticism was blunt. Prince Turki opened his remarks by contrasting what he described as Israel’s perception of being “peace-loving upholders of high moral principles” versus what he described as a far-darker Palestinian reality of living under a “Western colonizing” power, according to the Associated Press.
Prince Turki also said Israel has “incarcerated (Palestinians) in concentration camps under the flimsiest of security accusations — young and old, women and men, who are rotting there without recourse to justice,” Prince Turki said. “They are demolishing homes as they wish and they assassinate whomever they want.”
The prince, formerly head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence and Saudi Ambassador to the United States, often gives speeches at conferences that provide a window into the thinking of some of the Kingdom’s top officials. According to the AP, Prince Turki’s remarks appeared to catch Israel’s foreign minister off guard, “particularly as Israelis receive warm welcomes from officials in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates following agreements to normalize ties.”
Prince Turki also criticized Israel’s undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons and Israeli governments “unleashing their political minions and their media outlets from other countries to denigrate and demonize Saudi Arabia,” according to the AP.
The prince reiterated the kingdom’s official position that the solution lies in implementing the Arab Peace Initiative, a 2002 Saudi-sponsored deal that offers Israel full ties with all Arab states in return for Palestinian statehood on territory Israel captured in 1967.
He added: “You cannot treat an open wound with palliatives and pain killers.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, who spoke immediately after Prince Turki, said: “I would like to express my regret on the comments of the Saudi representative.”
“I don’t believe that they reflect the spirit and the changes taking place in the Middle East,” he said.
[Click here to read the full story from the Associated Press via ABC News]
