EVERYONE'S FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS

Arutz Sheva reports that "Saudi Arabia passed new regulations on citizenship this week that will benefit hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in the desert kingdom, with one exception: the 'Palestinians.' "

Here's the explanation for this apartheid policy:

Citing a report in the Al-Watan newspaper, the English-language Saudi daily Arab News notes that one group will in fact be excluded by the new regulations: the estimated 500,000 Arabs from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza living in the kingdom.

This select sector of Arabs will not be allowed to benefit from the new law, says the paper, because of Arab League instructions barring the Arab states from granting them citizenship in order "to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland."

Meanwhile, the Middle East Media Research Institute translates an editorial titled "Bush the Nazi," which appeared in al-Riyadh, a Saudi government daily. It refers to claims that President Bush's grandfather had ties to the National Socialist regime. The twisted Saudis manage to find an Israeli conspiracy here:

Either these documents were archived during the terms of [Bush] the father and [George W. Bush] so they could be used as a means of blackmailing the two presidents into continuing to serve Israel, or the time has now come to publicize these facts, if they are indeed true. That is to say, perhaps Bush Jr. has played all his cards and he has no choice left but to leave the White House, with [John] Kerry as his successor, about whom it has been said that he has Jewish roots, like [Madeleine] Albright, the former Secretary of State who didn't make public her religious identity until several years after [assuming office].

The delicate question is whether Israel cooperated with the ruling Bush family while knowing these secrets, according to the principle of whoever does you excellent service is your ally, even if in the past he had [ties] with the Nazis? Or perhaps this information is inaccurate or fictitious, and its publication has come at a time when the investigators don't have time to conduct a thorough investigation and to defend Bush, since the elections are fast approaching. If we assume that the accusation is true, it is probable that elements in the service of Israel and [acting] in conjunction with it felt which way the wind was blowing in anticipation of the elections, and [concluded] that Kerry was better suited to the Israeli positions. . . .

In any event, it is Israel that has gained the most from this.