Saudi Arabia has
unsuccessfully argued to the Bush administration that shutting off aid to the
Palestinian government and isolating its new Hamas leadership will only
radicalize a destitute population and set back the cause of peace with Israel.
"We are arguing the point, needless to say, with them strenuously," Prince
Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's longtime foreign minister, told reporters
Wednesday. "It is only through inclusion that you may change the position of
Hamas."
Saud is in Washington for meetings with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and other U.S. officials. He said he argued against cutting U.S. and European
aid to the Palestinian government at a meeting at the United Nations last week
with Rice and other potential Mideast peacemakers.
"We thought that was the wrong policy," Saud said.
Hamas, which refuses to renounce violence and has claimed responsibility for
dozens of suicide bombings against Israel, is considered a terrorist
organization by both the United States and the European Union. U.S. law forbids
direct contact with Hamas, or financial support for it.
The United States has helped lead an international boycott of aid to the
Palestinian government since the victory of Islamic militants in elections in
January.
The squeeze has intensified since Hamas formed a Cabinet two months ago, and
the militants are now unable to pay government salaries or provide many basic
services in the impoverished Palestinian territories. The previous secular
Palestinian government relied on about $1 billion annually in overseas
donations, out of a budget of $1.9 billion.
"The Palestinians are living on such a subsistence level now, if you keep
help away from them, where do they go?" Saud said.
By denying aid, "you are not harming the government, you are only adding
radicalism to the Palestinians," he said. "Instead of them calling on the
government to support the peace process, they will be going the other way."
Saudi Arabia contributes to the Palestinian cause through the Arab League,
but more than $70 million in Arab League donations is now frozen because of
U.S.-supported banking restrictions. Iran has also pledged new support for
Hamas.
The United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia last week
approved a still-vague plan to funnel new money to the Palestinians while
bypassing the government.
Saud said he is convinced Hamas can moderate, given time and dialogue.
"If we don't talk to them, how do we convince them they should change their
attitude toward peace?" he said.
Separately, Saud said the United States will release 16 Saudi Arabian
nationals this week from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for suspected
terrorists.
An estimated 100 Saudis are being held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba,
some of them for more than four years. Their detention has been an irritant in
the otherwise improving relationship between the Bush administration and the
Saudi kingdom, which U.S. officials say has been helpful in tracking and
stopping terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Most of the 19 hijackers
were Saudi.
"It took us how many years to get them back?" Saud told reporters. "It hasn't
been easy."
Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a military spokesman, said the U.S. doesn't discuss
movements of detainees from Guantanamo until after they have occurred.
"We have a process in place for detainee movements from Guantanamo, which
entails an official announcement as soon as a transfer or release of detainees
is completed. We intend to follow that process," Gordon said.
The military still holds about 480 detainees at Guantanamo following a series
of releases and transfers that began in October 2002, nearly 10 months after the
detention center opened.
A total of 759 inmates have been held over the years at Guantanamo, according
to Defense Department documents released to The Associated Press in response to
a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Of those, 136 have been Saudis, making them the second largest contingent of
Guantanamo prisoners, behind only the 218 Afghans.
