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Saudi
prince meets with Bush to promote Middle East peace CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah met for two hours Thursday with President Bush at his central Texas ranch, looking to ease growing tensions between their two nations that loomed over a summit originally meant to advance the Mideast peace process. A Saudi spokesman said the crown prince was not softening his demand to Bush that the United States pressure Israel to halt military action against the Palestinians.
“We
believe the administration could have been stronger on (Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, made it clearer to him that negotiations
cannot be done under the barrel of a gun,” Nail Al-Jubeir,
a spokesman for the Saudi embassy, told reporters here as the two
Al-Jubeir said he expected the crown prince to deliver a frank message to Bush: “The message is, Sharon has been acting up, and the U.S. government needs to rein him in. We cannot maintain the peace process with this stuff going on.” Images of Israeli-inflicted devastation in Palestinian refugee camps “make it more difficult for friends of the U.S. to stand up with the U.S.,” Al-Jubeir said. As Bush and Abdullah met, some oil prices surged on fears that Abdullah would use the meeting to threaten to choke off Saudi oil to the United States. Al-Jubeir denied that. “We’ve always been a reliable source of oil, and we’ll continue to be,” he said. White House and Saudi officials said the two leaders spent much of their session alone, one-on-one, then set out in Bush’s pickup truck for a ranch tour and lunch afterward. White House and Saudi officials said little on the substance of the session immediately after it ended. When the de facto Saudi leader arrived, Bush escorted Abdullah, who wore white-and-brown robes, into his home, introducing him to a U.S. delegation that included Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, chief of staff Andrew Card and Secretary of State Colin Powell. It
was Abdullah who gave momentum earlier this year to an initiative
meant to quell Mideast violence by offering peace and full recognition
to Israel in exchange for the territory Jordan and Syria lost in
the 1967 war. Arab leaders said the discussions could determine the Arabs nations’ next moves. The meeting is “important, revealing of American stances, and will clarify a lot of issues and will be the basis for the Arabs’ future steps,” Egypt’s foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, said Thursday in Cairo. Abdullah’s plan also includes the creation of a Palestinian state, for which Bush has voiced support. Also under review is an international conference on Mideast peacemaking. Bush so far has been noncommittal. |
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