Item of Interest - Saturday, March 19, 2005

The Saudi-British Forum
London - February 23, 2005

Listening to His Excellency the honorable Jack Straw, who covered in his eloquent remarks most of what I have to say, the thought came to my mind that I would refrain from boring you with a less eloquent presentation. I promise him though, for the sake of our friendship which is based on truth and trust, that I promise I shall not refrain from highlighting whatever differences we have.

We have an Arabic saying that your friend is he who tells you the truth and not he who agrees with you all the time. By the way, Your Excellency, we have an Arabic saying for every imaginable occasion.

I would like to thank the organizers of this event for giving me the opportunity to address this august audience very candidly on issues of great importance to both our countries. I am also eager for you to reciprocate by sharing you views.

Notwithstanding the world's great advances in science, technology and communications and the ongoing process of globalization, we continue to endure the presence of great injustices: poverty, disease, social upheaval, armed conflict and the spread of international terrorism. Recently, even nature seems bent on hampering our advances by unleashing her awesome power.

It is my purpose today to discuss with you a possible approach that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom can take to deal with some of the most serious issues facing the international community. I am convinced, for various historical and pragmatic considerations, that both Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are uniquely positioned to cooperate and become an effective instrument in dealing with these global problems.

Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are friends, not adversaries. We share certain positions of influence and - at the risk of angering some skeptics- we even share certain common values, combined with a healthy diversity that can be turned into complimentary action to allow us to play more of an active role in world events.

Without enumerating the many aspects that define the closeness of our relationship, suffice it to say that we are your largest trading partner in the Middle East. We are also your largest market for goods and services outside the OECD; and your direct investment portfolio is the second largest in Saudi Arabia.

Among your citizens there are two million Muslims that pray five times a day towards Mecca and we host between 25 and 30 thousand of your citizens in the Kingdom. After all is said and done, our histories seem to be inextricably intertwined. The uniqueness of the United Kingdom cannot be disputed. Despite the loss of Empire, the profound impact of your cultural values remains a visible fact in societies around the world.

The United Kingdom enjoys also a position of leadership within Europe and is a depository of intimate knowledge of the various cultures that the Empire once encompassed and that no other country shares. There have been more explorers and scholars of the Arab and Islamic world from the United Kingdom than from any other country outside of the Middle East and North Africa, and therefore you have more knowledge of, and I hope appreciation for, these cultures.

The United Kingdom is a country of Laws. The steadfast rule of law and the strength of the judicial system are examples to be emulated.

As far back as the year 1215, the Magna Charta established some of the fundamental rights of man, such as habeas corpus and the right to trial by jury - concepts that have been adopted in one way or another in the various constitutions that came thereafter.

Saudi Arabia also has a unique position in the world and in its region: It is the holy land where God's message was revealed to the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). It is the country where the two holy mosques are located and where millions come from all over the world for spiritual renovation and fulfillment of their religious duty. Accordingly, Saudi Arabia has been thrust into assuming a heavy responsibility of moral leadership.

Within the Arab world, Saudi Arabia has always been a positive participant in resolving conflicts and preventing discord. It has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and with a planet still hungry for fossil fuel, Saudi Arabia must continue to play a moderating role to the benefit of both producers and consumers. On a per capita basis Saudi Arabia is the leading foreign aid donor among the community of nations.

It should be obvious that, taking into account these factors of influence, our two countries should be natural allies and fully cooperate to deal with the issues of our day. A simple promise to cooperate, however, is not as simple to fulfill. We need to clear the air and be very frank with regard to our mutual apprehensions.

We in Saudi Arabia are criticized by some in the West on the following grounds:

• That our political system is outdated and that we do not place enough emphasis on human rights, especially the rights of women, and that democracy is long overdue.

• On the economic side - that our income is wasted by over-indulgence and profligacy. Perhaps it would be more accurate instead if we were criticized for over-extending our resources in providing quite an extensive program of social welfare.

• Finally and incredibly, that our religious beliefs somehow resulted in the emergence of international terrorism.

On the other hand, our apprehension of the West is based on the following grounds:

• First of all, and from a historical viewpoint, there is the problem of credibility and double standards. We feel that many of the difficulties we face in the Middle East, especially the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, are the product of a long chain of broken promises that arbitrarily divided our region and people.

• Second, there is the perception among our ordinary citizens that emulating Western society, with what they perceive to be its extreme emphasis on materialism and the lack of spiritual values, can only lead to a permissive environment and the unraveling of the moral fabric of society.

Although I share Mr. Straw's view that such a perception is misguided in this case, but perceptions do matter and must be dealt with.

• Third, there is widespread suspicion among people in our region that Western calls for social and political reforms, which are not indigenous to our region, are intended to establish political dominance.

In order for us to cooperate fully, we must strive to correct misunderstandings, misperceptions and misrepresentations, which I call the three misses -- no disrespect intended to the ladies in the audience. The simplest way is to forget about the past and deal with the situation, as it is in order to move forward.  But that would require the United Kingdom and other western countries to deal seriously and evenhandedly with the conflicts in our region.

Let me briefly address the West's criticism relating to the use of our wealth. I can vividly recall that in the eighties we had many international financial experts come to Saudi Arabia to assist us in spending our newly acquired wealth. The key terms at the time were "capital absorption" and "recycling."  Remember those? The theory was advanced that we were accumulating wealth so rapidly that it resulted in a crisis of capital absorption. Certainly the building of a first rate infrastructure for the development of the economy absorbed a large part of that capital. The advent of the Iran/Iraq war and the first Gulf war took care of the rest.

However, the most significant apprehensions that obstruct full cooperation between us are the questions of political reform and international terrorism.

If we are to understand each other, especially when using abstract terms, we must have uniform agreement on the definition and appropriate usage of these terms. Nowadays, however, we speak of concepts such as democracy, freedom and human rights with a complete lack of either historical context or present day application.

Allow me a brief historical digression. The power struggle in the United Kingdom between the branches of government was a painful process, and it took the Reformation and a civil war to resolve the issue.

The full emancipation of women did not come until the 20th century. According to one historian, it was "laughable" to assume that a woman could manage her financial affairs without the guidance of a man. Women's suffrage came about in the United Kingdom in the 20th century and in two stages. The first stage allowed only women above the age of thirty to participate in elections, and there was a rumor of a great conspiracy that was done by men in order to prevent women from voting because they believed that no woman would admit to being older than thirty.

As to the United States, it took a civil war and a generation of Supreme Court decisions for the Bill of Rights to be enforced. The statutes prohibiting interracial marriages in certain states were only completely removed from the books in the 1990s.

I can go on an on in this vein, but my purpose is not to criticize but to recite illuminating historical facts to stress the point that successful political reform is an evolutionary process.

As Mr. Straw had said in one of his excellent speeches, "We in Europe always show some humility about the pace of change; after all, representative government is a very recent phenomenon in 11 of the 25 EU states."

I cannot resist mentioning one more example. Let me read you the following, and I quote: "Article 20 - Criminal Trial: (a) an accused is presumed to be innocent, until proven guilty at a legal trial. (b) The right of defense is sacred, in all stages of proceedings and prosecution. (c) Court sessions are public, unless it becomes secret by a court decision."

This text is taken directly form the 1990 Iraq Constitution under the rule of Saddam Hussein, which proves another important point - and here I am quoting a former President of the United States: " It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation."

We in Saudi Arabia believe in the necessity of political reform, but it must be evolutionary and it must fulfill the requirements of our own people and it must maintain the social fabric of our society. To this end, we set down the Basic Law of Governance, started a program of National Dialogue and increased the size of our Consultative Council, whose authority has been extended to review and promulgate legislation. As a result it became a member of the International Parliamentary Union.

This month, we commenced the process of electing municipal council members as a step in testing the water. The Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs has recently declared that there is nothing in Islam that prohibits women for participating in elections.

The smoothness of the electoral process led our Election Commissioner to announce that he is recommending that women participate in coming elections. Therefore, I would not be surprised if they do so in the next round of elections.

The role of Saudi women is changing rapidly; our educational reforms have created a new generation of highly educated and professionally trained Saudi women who are acquiring their rightful position in Saudi society. I am proud to mention here that this year we shall have women working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Now we come to the final apprehension: terrorism. Saudi Arabia is a deeply devout society. Like other societies, we have our share of an extremist minority. Uninformed Western perceptions however has made the exception in our society the rule. As HRH the Prince of Wales once observed, "Our judgment of Islam has been grossly distorted by taking the extremes to be the norm." Among mass media, there is a predilection for quoting insignificant Muslim scholars and neglecting the statements of our truly authoritative religious leaders that promote moderation and tolerance.

Far from being its instigator, Saudi Arabia is one of the first victims of terrorism. The threat of terrorism goes beyond our own safety and security.

On of the terrorists' most threatening objectives is to drive a wedge between our cultures and societies. We are waging a relentless war on terrorists, their recruiters, their financiers and their ideologues. We hope that all countries will cooperate to prevent terrorists from establishing safe-havens by abusing asylum and migration laws.

This month we held an international conference on counter-terrorism in Riyadh to which we invited representatives of fifty countries to discuss and develop ways and means to combat this international criminal phenomenon. It was recommended by HRH Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abd Al Aziz that an international center to combat terrorism be established. Strangely enough, there is presently no international center to combat what is undeniably a global problem of immense proportion.

It is generally accepted as a fact that one of the factors most conducive to terrorism is the injustice perpetrated on the Palestinians through the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. For years we have been preaching to unheeding ears in the West. So it was music to my ears to hear what we have just heard from Mr. Straw that this issue should be resolved on a fair and just basis, otherwise it will be a radicalizing force in the region. Unfortunately, the obstinacy of Israel in defying international law and building illegal settlements, in humiliating the Palestinian people and casting a shadow of terror over the occupied territories, has increased radicalism and frustrated international efforts to resolve this conflict.

Recent talks this month between the leaders of Israel and the leaders of Palestine present a hopeful opportunity to move forward with the peace process. This chance must not be missed. I am looking forward to a meaningful and positive outcome to the conference on the peace process called for by the right honorable Prime Minister Blair to be held here in London at the beginning of next month.

We must also work for a stable and unified Iraq, at peace with itself and in harmony with its neighbors. We are heartened by the electoral process and results in that country. And we must work together to achieve what the Iraqi people deserve.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are in this unique position - we must share the responsibility and move forward together to address these issues. This does not mean the contravention of other international efforts, but that in the future we should aim to propel such efforts.

We shall not be able to discover remedies for all the woes that we face and that afflict us, but it is not too late to try. As your great poet Alfred Lord Tennyson said, "To seek a newer world," and "strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Thank you very much and may the peace of God be with upon you.