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Saudi diplomatic drive runs into US opposition
munaeem | 22 February, 2007 07:26
Via Khaleejtimes : Saudi diplomatic drive runs into US opposition
Saudi Arabia’s new policy of high-profile diplomacy has hit its first major hurdle with US opposition to a Palestinian unity deal brokered by the kingdom, diplomats and analysts say.
Analysts say Saudi leaders have lost confidence in Washington’s ability to ensure regional stability following the war on Iraq, where sectarian violence is raging, and are ready to live with US ire to calm Palestinian strife.
Diplomats in Riyadh and Palestinian officials say Bandar was in constant contact with the US administration before and during the Mecca talks, but could not secure US approval.
ELAINE SHANNON wrote in his article " U.S. the Big Loser in the Mecca Deal?" in The Times :
"The Bush Administration may view the deal as a setback for the prospects of Middle East peace, many observers think it is really a setback for U.S. influence in the region — especially its goal of isolating Hamas."
State department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters that the U.S. would wait until the national unity government was actually formed and engaged in policy-making to judge whether the U.S. could resume sending financial assistance to the Palestinian government. For now, said Casey, "the U.S. position on Hamas hasn't changed. It's an armed terrorist organization and that places restrictions on U.S. activities and U.S. engagement."
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, now director of the Brookings Institutions' Saban Center for Middle East Policy, argues that the Mecca accord is a "considerable embarrassment" for Rice and a setback for her hopes of brokering Israeli-Palestinian talks that will lay the groundwork for the establishment of a peaceful Palestinian state.
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