Saudis Intensify Diplomatic Contacts With Washington Ahead of Bush's Mideast Statement

12/06/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Saud Al-Faisal Makes Unannounced Stop in Cairo to Discuss Mubarak's Recent Meeting with Bush||Saudis to Push Bush to Honour Pledge on Palestinian Statehood||Al-Faisal's Unannounced Visit to Washington Intended to Counter Sharon's Trip to the White House|| STORY: U.S. President George W. Bush soon will tell the American people and the world how he intends to secure a state for the Palestinians, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday. Before that, however, he probably will hear another Arab demand, this time from Saudi Arabia's foreign minister that statehood should come quickly.

Prince Saud al-Faisal is meeting with Bush this week and is expected to urge prompt action by Bush on statehood, despite the president's determination that it must be preceded by democratic change within Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Bush also has been sensitive to Israel's insistence that Palestinian attacks must cease before diplomatic and political negotiations are resumed.

In Cairo, on his way to Washington, al-Faisal aligned the Arab kingdom with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He said Mubarak conveyed "the Arab stance" at the White House last Friday.

Mubarak pressed Bush to set a timetable for statehood and for Israel's complete withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza and part of Jerusalem. Bush resisted imposing pressure on Israel.

Then, on Monday, Bush met at the White House with Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and concurred with Sharon that Arafat was an unreliable peace partner.

Still, Bush is the first president to call for a Palestinian state, and Sharon already has declared that for security reasons Israel will not relinquish all the West Bank. As a result, differences with Israel could emerge this summer.

AL-FAISAL'S UNANNOUNCED STOP IN CAIRO

Saudi Prince Saud al-Faisal first made an unannounced stop in Egypt to discuss President Hosni Mubarak's recent meeting with Bush. Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Maher briefed the prince.

A Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Prince Saud's previously unannounced visit to Washington aims to counter Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's trip, which continued Tuesday with a Capitol Hill visit to congressional leaders. The prince will push Bush to fulfill his pledge to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to help establish a Palestinian state and prevent what the Saudis consider Israel's repeated attempts to block the Saudi peace initiative.

But Sharon, who met with Bush Monday, was assured the United States would not set schedules for establishing a Palestinian state and ending Israeli incursions into the West Bank and Gaza.

AL-FAISAL'S VISIT CONCLUDES ROUND OF CONSULTATIONS BEFORE BUSH'S MIDEAST STATEMENT

Al-Faisal's unannounced visit to Washington will conclude an American round of consultations in the capital and in the Middle East with Arab and Israeli leaders.

Saudi Arabia has a leading role in Bush's Middle East strategy, having offered Israel peace with all the Arabs in exchange for territorial concessions.

On Tuesday, Bush called Crown Prince Abdullah, who initiated the offer later endorsed by the Arab League, and they spoke for five to 10 minutes, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. (Read photo caption)

In the course of the brief conversation Bush gave Abdullah an account of his meeting with Sharon, the spokesman said.

Powell, who is to meet Friday with al-Faisal, said the visit "does complete this round of consultations."

Bush "will pull this all together with his advisers, and then, in the very near future, he will make known to the American people and to the world and to, especially, the people in the region, his vision of how to move forward," Powell said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister John Howard of Australia.

PHOTO CAPTION

A day after declaring the time was not ripe for a summit meeting on Middle East peace; President George W. Bush telephoned Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah June 11, 2002 to discuss how to move forward. The Crown Prince is seen at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Houston before his departure for Saudi Arabia on April 28. Photo by Richard Carson/Reuters