- The Saudi ambassador to London has reinforced controversial
claims by the kingdom's royal family of a link between "Zionists"
and recent al-Qaeda terror attacks in the country.
-
- In a television interview, to be broadcast today, Prince
Turki al-Faisal is asked about comments made by Crown Prince Abdullah,
Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, that "Zionist hands" have been
behind the attacks.
-
- The ambassador replies: "When you're under attack
by people who come and kill your countrymen and visitors to your country,
and you see at the same time an attack on the kingdom from the outside,
from Zionist circles, it is natural to make a connection."
-
- He declined to expand on his remarks yesterday but his
comments were condemned by Lord Janner of Braunstone, the former Labour
MP. "In my view it is highly offensive and he must realise that the
statement is totally unfounded."
-
- "No terrorism serves the interests of Zionism. The
allegation by the Crown Prince was rubbish and he must know that."
-
- Prince Abdullah made his original remarks when he addressed
a conference of leading Saudi officials and academics last month after
an attack on contractors at the Yanbu oil facility that left six Westerners
- including two Britons - dead.
-
- "Zionism is behind it," he said. "It has
become clear now. It has become clear to us. It is not 100 per cent, but
95 per cent that Zionist hands are behind what happened."
-
- In his interview today, Prince Turki contends that Saudi
Arabia has been subjected to concerted attacks by "so-called 'experts'
with Zionist connections" for 50 years, and particularly since the
terror atrocities of September 11, 2001.
-
- "Is it beyond any comprehension or understanding
that such attacks come at us from the Zionists on one side and from al-Qaeda
on the other side and not make connection between them?" he asked.
-
- The ambassador also says that the families of victims
of terror attacks committed in Saudi Arabia, including Westerners, can
still insist on the death penalty for their killers under Islamic sharia
law, despite the offer of a state amnesty to terrorists who surrender in
the next month.
-
- He insists that the regime is doing everything it can
to root out terrorists and rejects claims that the Saudi royal family's
days are numbered.
-
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/27/nsa
ud27.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/27/ixnewstop.html
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