SAUDI SCHOLAR THERE WAS NO HOLOCAUST ... KILL ALL THE JEWS!

Saudi Scholar Dr. Walid Al-Rashudi: 50-60 People Perished in Jewish Holocaust. The Killing of All the Jews Will Not Be Satisfactory Compensation for the "Real Holocaust" in Gaza (MEMRI)

Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Dr. Walid Al-Rashudi, head of the Department of Islamic Studies at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on February 29, 2008.

Walid Al-Rashudi: One of the important things that we must tell people is that what is going on in Palestine today is a real holocaust. This is the real holocaust. A holocaust is not the burning of 50-60 Jews in Germany or Switzerland, but the Jews continue to call it the Holocaust. In case you don't know, let me tell you that more than 90% of the Muslims in the world do not know that the Jews receive reparations from Germany and Switzerland for the so-called Holocaust affair. We believe that there was indeed a holocaust, but how many died? 50-60 people? Afterwards, they used it to blackmail these two countries.
So what are we supposed to say in the face of the Gaza holocaust? What compensation will satisfy us? By Allah, we will not be satisfied even if all the Jews are killed.

SAUDI SCHOOL IN LONDON STILL CALLING ME A MONKEY

Islamic School Kept Copies of Race-Hate Books - Sophie Borland (Telegraph-UK)
The King Fahad Academy in London, that claimed to have destroyed all its copies of extremist books in which Jews were described as "monkeys" and Christians as "pigs," secretly photocopied them beforehand, a tribunal heard Wednesday.

Colin Cook, who taught English there for 18 years, told the Watford employment tribunal how pupils often made "inappropriate" remarks about killing Americans and praised Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks.

Cook is claiming unfair dismissal and racial discrimination against the school.

ISRAELI V. SAUDI ARABIA: WHO PRACTICES APARTHEID?

Israeli and Saudi Ambassadors Trade Shots

(LGF)

There’s an interesting exchange in the National Post between the Israeli and Saudi ambassadors to Canada, starting with this op-ed by Alan Baker stating some simple facts about: The poisonous myth of ‘Israeli apartheid’.

Israel is a liberal democracy, guaranteeing civil, religious and social equality to all its citizens — including Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze and Baha’0is. Israel’s Arab citizens have the right to vote, and are represented by three Arab political parties in Israel’s parliament (the Knesset), representing a gamut of views from communism to Islamic fundamentalism. Several newspapers freely represent the views of Arab citizens in a far freer manner than is permitted among the media of Israel’s neighbours.

Complete freedom of religion for all is strictly protected in Israel — unlike in neighbouring countries, which recognize only one state religion, Islam, and even criminalize and persecute the practice of other faiths. Consider, for instance, Saudi Arabia, whose police recently arrested 40 Christians for the “crime” of praying in a private house. Followers of the Baha’is religion, who are persecuted in Iran, are welcomed in Israel, and maintain their central religious institutions in Haifa and Acre. Coptic Christians, who face restrictions in neighbouring Arab countries, enjoy freedom of religion in Israel.

This statement of fact about the appalling religious oppression in Saudi Arabia obviously didn’t sit well with the representative of the House of Saud, who replies that Israel is too an apartheid state, and advises people to look up Jimmy Carter ... and Rachel Corrie: Saudi ambassador responds.

While I acknowledge the Israeli ambassador’s right to defend his country with respect to the “Israeli Apartheid Week” recently hosted by several Canadian universities, I don’t think that he has the right to somehow implicate and attack the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in his article. The fact that his country is considered an apartheid regime has absolutely nothing to do with Saudi Arabia.

When I arrived in Canada I quickly realized that this country has a deep-rooted history of high principles and values and that everyone is equal before the law in terms of their rights and obligations. [Much to his dismay. – ed.] In this same spirit, I tried to avoid getting involved in confrontations with any of my colleagues, knowing that there is no such thing as absolute truth.

Thus, I was very keen not to get involved in any frictions with the Israeli ambassador, as I am convinced that the reality on the ground is sufficient enough to condemn Israel’s conscience without any further contribution form my part.

For this reason, I leave it up to readers to learn about the reality on the ground in Israel by referring, for instance, to the American peace activist Rachel Corrie on the internet or Palestine: Peace not Apartheid by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.

Abdulaziz H. Al-Sowayegh.

GAZA'S NEW RESIDENTS: SAUDIS AND AL QAEDA

Gaza's New Residents: Saudis and al-Qaeda - Nir Boms
Egyptian troops recently resealed the border with Gaza. The border incident, initiated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, allowed some otherwise unwelcome guests to enter Gaza. The Bethlehem-based Maan news agency quoted Hamas sources as estimating the number of Arab men who had entered Gaza as new residents at 2,000. According to Arab sources, some had recently fled from Iraq, where they had been carrying out attacks against U.S. troops. A Sunni Muslim website that carries statements of al-Qaeda reported last week on the arrival of at least four Saudi militants to Gaza through Egypt. "Hamas has turned Gaza into an international center for global jihad," said one PA official. Another PA security official said that dozens of al-Qaeda operatives have managed to enter Gaza in the past two weeks. (Weekly Standard)

MUGHINIYA KILLED IN "WORK ACCIDENT?"

Kuwaiti Paper: Mughniya Was Killed In "Work Accident" (MEMRI)
The Kuwaiti daily Awan reported, from a knowledgeable Arab source, that Imad Mughinyua was killed as he was preparing a car bomb. The source said that Mughniya had prepared several car bombs for sending to Lebanon in order to prevent the March 14 Forces from holding a rally to mark the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri.

Hizbullah mastermind's true legacy By Caroline B. Glick
While it is a great thing that he is dead, it must be understood that
his death is insufficient

Saudis Let Go Terrorist Mughniyeh in 1996 Despite U.S. President's Pleas - Brian Ross (ABC News)
Former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke says that in 1996 the CIA learned that Hizbullah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh had boarded a commercial flight in Khartoum that was scheduled to stop in Riyadh.

"We appealed to the Saudis to grab him when the plane landed, and they refused," Clarke said in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

"We raised the level of appeals all the way through Bill Clinton who was on the phone at three in the morning appealing to the highest level in Saudi Arabia to grab him," Clarke said.
"Instead, the Saudis refused to let the plane land and it continued on to Damascus."

Imad Who? - Martin Kramer
At Hizbullah's official funeral of Imad Mughniyeh Thursday, where Hizbullah's leader eulogized him over a coffin decked in Hizbullah's flag, it is useful to recall the party's denial of his very existence over all these many years. Mention of his name to Hizbullah officials would draw a blank stare or blanket denial. Nasrallah's eulogy has placed Mughniyeh officially in the pantheon of Hizbullah's greatest martyrs. That his relationship to Hizbullah was ever a question is a testament to the discipline of Hizbullah in sticking to lies that serve its interests.

Hiding its clandestine branch makes it easier for Hizbullah to sell the movement to useful idiots in the West who insist that the movement hasn't done any terror in years, and maybe never did any at all. The truth is that Hizbullah has always included within it a clandestine terrorist branch, and it probably always will. Indeed, Nasrallah's threat in his eulogy - to commence an "open war" with Israel outside the Israel-Lebanon theater - alludes to the "global reach" that Mughniyeh helped to build. Hizbullah's official send-off to a most-wanted terrorist has exposed the core of Hizbullah that lies deep beneath the schools, the hospitals, and all the other gimmicks the party uses to get support. (Middle East Strategy at Harvard)

U.S. TO SELL $20B IN WEAPONS TO SAUDIS

U.S. Plans Sale of 900 Sophisticated Missiles to Saudi Arabia
The Bush administration notified Congress Monday that it would sell 900 sophisticated satellite-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia as part of a $20 billion arms sale. The administration is worried that some in Congress might object, since the missiles are some of the most accurate produced by the U.S. (New York Times)

See also Israel to Get "Smarter" U.S.-Made Bombs than Saudis - Dan Williams
The U.S. has agreed in principle to provide Israel with better "smart bombs" than those it plans to sell Saudi Arabia, senior Israeli security sources said Sunday. The Bush administration last year proposed supplying Gulf Arab states with some $20 billion in new weapons, including Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bomb kits for the Saudis. Two Israeli security sources said the U.S. offered military aid grants worth $30 billion over the next decade, as well as an "understanding in principle" that future JDAM sales to Israel would include advanced technologies not on offer to Saudi Arabia. "The agreement is that Israel's qualitative edge will be preserved," one source said. (Reuters)

POLL: 89% OF SAUDIS HATE JEWS

Poll: Saudi approval of U.S. up 29%, support for destroying Israel steady at 51% (HotAir)
The survey was conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow, a nonprofit with more than a few names you'll recognize on its board. Don't be daunted by the size of the PDF; all the gold nuggets come in the first easily scrollable 14 pages, although if you're willing to put in an extra five minutes I'd recommend skipping down to page 48 and comparing the approval ratings of various jihadist groups. Hamas almost but not quite breaks even, but Iraq's Sunni fighters, interestingly, come out negative. I'm guessing it's due to their association with AQI, but you'd think appreciation for Arab nationalist sentiment would have at least broken slightly favorable for them on balance.

A few highlights. Thanks in part to the great majority of 9/11 hijackers having come from the Kingdom as well as its unique religious status within Islam, I've always operated under the assumption that the Saudis were the most radically anti-American population in the Middle East. Not remotely true, as it turns out, although it would have been close to the truth last year, when our approval rating was only 11%. What accounts for the big gain? Fear of Iran, I'm guessing, as well as improvements in Anbar.

Osama and AQ are unpopular, although not as unpopular as they should be:

And then there's this, which speaks for itself. In a separate question, 53% say their opinion of America would improve if we brokered a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Good luck squaring that result with this one:

And finally, an intriguing result. 50.9% of the people surveyed were women; only 38% of all respondents were willing to go on record as disagreeing with the sentence.

I'll leave you with this, from question 24 on page 52, on the subject of which form of government the people preferred. The numbers for monarchy are probably somewhat inflated due to simple fear of being punished for disagreeing publicly with the status quo. The numbers represent strongly or somewhat support versus somewhat or strongly oppose.

Clerical: 40.5% vs. 40.8%
Democracy: 42.1% vs. 39.3%
Monarchy: 79.2% vs. 10.1%
Constitutional monarchy: 48.6% vs. 33.5%

Update: Anne Applebaum says it's time to get serious.

This comparison of Saudi and South African apartheid, and the different Western attitudes to both, has been made before. Recently, journalist Mona Eltahawy argued that while oil is a factor, the real reason Saudi teams aren't kicked out of the Olympics is that "Saudis have succeeded in pulling a fast one on the world by claiming their religion is the reason they treat women so badly." Islam, she points out, does take other forms—in Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia, and elsewhere. But Saudi propaganda, plus our own timidity about foreign customs, has blinded us to the fact that the systematic, wholesale Saudi oppression of women isn't dictated by religion at all, but rather by the culture of the Saudi ruling class.

[T]he women of contemporary Saudi Arabia need a much more fundamental revolution than the one that took place among American women in the 1960s, and it's one we have trouble understanding. Unlike American blacks, it has been a long time since American women grappled with issues as basic as the right to study or vote. Instead, we have (fortunately) fought for less fundamental rights in recent decades, and our women's groups have of late (unfortunately) had the luxury of focusing on the marginal.

SAUDIS BUYING INFLUENCE ON U.S. COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Saudis Give Big to U.S. Colleges - Julia Duin (Washington Times)
Some say the sheer size of Saudi donations to Middle East studies departments amounts to buying influence and creating bastions of noncritical pro-Islamic scholarship within academia. "There's a possibility these campuses aren't getting gifts, they're getting investments," said Clifford May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

There are 17 federally funded centers on American college campuses devoted solely to Middle Eastern studies and another 30 to 40 that do not receive federal aid, according to Amy Newhall, executive director of the Middle East Studies Association at the University of Arizona. Not counting several positions at Georgetown University, she estimated at least 10 chaired professorships currently funded by Saudis at major universities.

"With all the talk of the Israel lobby, no one talks about the Saudi lobby," said Winfield Myers, director of Campus Watch. "There is no counterweight to Saudi influence in American higher education."

ANNAPOLIS: SAUDIS WITHOUT EAR PHONES

Annapolis: Saudis without Ear Phones (Roger Simon)
Maybe it's there somewhere in our dreary mainstream media, but it wasn't until I read Allison Kaplan Sommer's description of Israeli reaction to the Annapolis conference on Pajamas that I noticed what is by far the most telling detail from that event: The Saudi Foreign Minister didn't even bother to put on his ear phones for Olmert's speech.

Well, how despicable is that! Not as despicable as the sick, misogynist Saudi culture itself - very little could be - but a plenty could indication of the values and character of the Saudi leadership. In other words, somewhere south of Attila.

And all I can think of is that we continue to enable this with our addiction to oil. Of course, it's now worse because our leading banks are now becoming hostage to this same culture (with insignificant modifications).

Two words: energy independence.

ARABS: "DON'T MAKE US TOUCH THE JEW!!!"

Arabs Freak Out Over Handshake With Israeli Female Minister (Gateway Pundit)
The MP's in Bahrain say Ms. Tzipi Livni is "dirty".

The Bahrain Parliament erupted into a shouting match this week after an official lashed out at Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa for shaking hands with a Jew in New York City.

The following day parliamentarians demanded an apology for the "blood on hands" verbal attack by the foreign minister.
The Gulf Daily reported:

MPs demanded an apology yesterday after Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa accused them of having Palestinian blood on their hands.

An MP, who urged the minister to wash his hands after meeting Israel Foreign Minister Tzipora "Tzipi" Livni, later backtracked saying he was only suggesting that Ms Livni was "dirty".

"I meant Tzipi is dirty and Shaikh Khalid, who is clean, should purify his hands," said MP Nasser Al Fadhala in a statement.

"What he threw at us in his anger, us cleaning our hands of the Palestinian blood, shocked us because our hands are not like the hands of those he has shaken."

Bahrain, of course, is a moderate Arab nation.


Arabs agree to attend Annapolis talks (AP)
CAIRO, Egypt - Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations grudgingly agreed Friday to attend next week's U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference, despite failing to get any guarantee of Israeli concessions. In a sign of the skepticism, even among close U.S. allies, the Saudi foreign minister cautioned that there would be no public handshakes with Israeli officials at the gathering Tuesday in Annapolis, Md.

BRITAIN GREETS SAUDI KING WITH DARTH VADER THEME MUSIC!

Video: Royal military band greets Saudi king with appropriate theme music (Hotair)

SAUDI ANTI-SEMITIC CONSPIRACY

Antisemitic Ravings of the Day, Courtesy of Saudi Arabia (LGF)

Ray Hanania used to call himself a “comedian,” but now he’s dropped that ruse and given himself over to hate speech and undisguised antisemitic conspiracy theories. Here’s his latest spew, at the Saudi royal family’s English mouthpiece, ArabNews, in which he claims that the move to shut down the teaching of jihad ideology in US Muslim schools is a Jewish plot: Pro-Israel Activism Behind Battle Over Muslim Schools

A federal government commission says a Saudi Arabian school based in Northern Virginia should be closed because they don’t like some of the things they assert the school is teaching its students.

Not surprisingly, the actions of the so-called US Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF) are no different from other US commissions controlled by the Bush administration that have shown a clear pattern of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias.

Another such group that comes to mind is the so-called US Commission on Peace, whose members included, at least briefly, renowned anti-Arab and anti-Muslim basher Daniel Pipes. Pipes is accused of heading a campus watch group accused of preaching religious hatred, too, something the CIRF seems to have missed.

Although none of the members of the CIRF come close to Pipes, clearly the organization is driven by an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias that reflects the prejudices brought to it by pro-Israel activists. One director is a member of the American Jewish Committee, an organization that once fairly championed human rights but today is merely a political mouthpiece for pro-Israel policy.

[... rant, rant, rant, Jews, Israelis, bigotry, racism, rant ...]

For every incident of ugly rhetoric published in the Arab textbooks, there are just as much ugly rhetoric published in pro-Israeli and Israeli textbooks and schools.

But, again, because of the Arab-Israeli conflict that is center stage in our American politics, skewered in favor of the pro-Israeli side of course, we never hear anyone complain about the hate being taught in Israeli public and religious schools. We only hear the vague attacks against Muslims such as that all “Madrasas” teach anti-Israeli and anti-American hate. ...

No one should take anything that the CIRF or the Institute for Peace or any of these US commission seriously when it comes to the Middle East. None have adequate representation from the Arab American community to counterbalance pro-Israel bias and hateful rhetoric that dominates the discussions of these commissions.

They are purely political, as political as this phony and slanderous attack now being waged by pro-Israel activists against the Saudi School.

It’s all about promoting anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred.

And yes, this appears in the official newspaper of the country that President Bush has just certified as an “anti-terrorism ally.”

FEDS RECOMMEND CLOSING SAUDI SCHOOL IN VIRGINIA

Feds Recommend Closing Saudi School in Virginia - Matthew Barakat
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report leveled particular criticism at the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school serving nearly 1,000 students in northern Virginia. The commission said the academy hews closely to the curriculum used at Saudi schools, which they criticize for promoting hatred of and intolerance against Jews, Christians and Shiite Muslims. The report recommends that the State Department prevail on the Saudi government to shut the school down until the school's textbooks can be reviewed and procedures are put in place to ensure the school's independence from the Saudi Embassy.

The school found itself in the spotlight in 2005, when a former class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was charged with joining al-Qaeda while attending college in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate President Bush. (AP)

U.S. CONG: END ARAB ANTI-SEMITISM

'End Arab anti-Semitism' (YNet)
Arab states with close relations to the United States should end anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement, and increase their commitment to a Middle East peace process, if an upcoming key autumn peace conference is to succeed, a letter signed Tuesday by dozens of American senators said.

Some 77 senators added their names to the letter, addressed to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and authored by New York Democrat Charles Schumer and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham.

"As you step up American diplomatic actions and prepare for a future international meeting on the Arab-Israeli conflict, we believe it is essential that other key players in the Middle East also step up and meet their responsibilities. The success of such a meeting, and ultimately the peace process itself, will depend on the cooperation we receive from the larger Arab world, particularly from those Arab states with close relations with the United States who have not yet signed agreements with Israel," the letter said, hinting at states such as Saudi Arabia.

"Your ongoing efforts to work with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are critical, but so is the support these efforts receive from those Arab countries," the senators stressed in their message to Rice.

Arab states must "participate in the upcoming international meeting and be a full partner of the United States in advancing regional peace, take visible, meaningful steps in the financial, diplomatic and political arenas to help Palestinian President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad govern effectively and meet their obligations to fight terror," and "stop support for terrorist groups and cease all anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement," the letter declared.

Other measures included a call to "recognize Israel's right to exist and not use such recognition as a bargaining chip for future Israeli concessions, end the Arab League economic boycott of Israel in all of its forms, pressure Hamas to recognize Israel, reject terror and accept prior agreements and isolate Hamas until it takes such steps."

The senators warned that "without a sincere commitment from our allies in the Middle East to be partners in this effort, peace in the region will remain elusive".

SAUDIS DEMAND HALT TO SECURITY FENCE WORK FOR PEACE MEETING

WOULD CAPTAIN KIRK DROP HIS SHIELDS IN EXCHANGE FOR A KLINGON OFFER TO TALK?

Israel Won't Halt Security Fence Work to Get Saudis to International Conference - Herb Keinon
Israel has no intention of stopping work on the security barrier to lure Saudi Arabia to the U.S.-sponsored conference on the Middle East later this year, senior diplomatic sources said Thursday in response to comments made by the Saudi foreign minister in New York. "Israel has its own security needs that we have to address," an official said. At the same time, the official characterized Prince Saud al-Faisal's comments, which included some upbeat remarks about the upcoming Mideast meeting, as "interesting," and added that Israel always listened to what the Saudis have to say. The New York Times reported Thursday that Faisal said Israel should stop work on the security barrier and stop settlement activity as good-will gestures to assure Arab states and show it was serious about comprehensive peace talks. (Jerusalem Post)

THE REAL, SINISTER LOBBY: THE SAUDIS

Israel Lobby's Pull Pales Next to Evil Saudi Input - Youssef Ibrahim
That there is a Jewish lobby in America concerned with the well-being of Israel is a silly question. It is insane to ask whether the 6 million American Jews should be concerned about the 6 million Israeli Jews, particularly in view of the massacre of another 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Any people who do not care for their own are not worthy of concern. And what the Israel lobby does is what all ethnic lobbies - Greek, Armenian, Latvian, Irish, Cuban, and others - do in this democracy. What everyone has missed is that all these ethnic lobbies have been built from the bottom up, with but a single exception, a sinister lobby that works from the top down: the American lobby for Saudi Arabia.

There are hardly any Saudi-Americans. Yet we have a lobby composed of American businessmen, oilmen, and academics - all borrowed, hijacked, and, indeed, bribed into filling a void. The noise made on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and inside the White House on behalf of the desert kingdom can be deafening. If Saudi Arabia wants American arms, Saudi Arabia gets arms; if Saudi Arabia cries foul over the bin Laden flock being stuck here the day after their next of kin blew up the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, President Bush lets all 50 of them out, no questions asked. (New York Sun)

BIN LADEN COMPANY INVITED TO BUILD SAUDI "SECURITY FENCE"

Bin Laden Company Invited to Build Saudi Fence
(IsraelNN.com) The four companies invited by Saudi Arabia to bid on a contract for the construction of a fence on the Saudi-Iraqi border include the Bin Laden Construction Company.The project will cost more than $1 and aims to prevent the crossings of terrorists and weapons between the two nations.Osama Bin Laden heads the Al Qaeda Islamist terrorist network.

WHAT'S FUNNIER, THAT SAUDI ARABIA IS BUILDING A "SECURITY FENCE" LIKE ISRAEL'S (WITHOUT THE CRITICISM) OR THAT THEY'RE HAVING OSAMA BIN LADEN'S FAMILY BUSINESS BID TO BUILD IT?

SAUDIS DEMAND "CONTIGUOUS" PALESTINIAN STATE

THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE GAZA AND THE WEST BANK CONTIGUOUS IS CREATE A STRIP OF CONNECTING LAND BETWEEN THE TWO (CARVING UP ISRAEL) OR ELIMINATING ISRAEL ENTIRELY.

Saudi says contiguous territory necessary for Palestinian state (YNet)
Saudi Arabia voiced support on Tuesday for a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said, "the success of this conference depends on... a comprehensive solution, establishing a viable Palestinian state on contiguous territory, dismantling settlements and solving the problem of the refugees and Jerusalem."

The senior royal Saudi appeared to endorse a Washington position that rejects an Israel withdrawal from all of the lands it occupied in the 1967 war, since the statement did not call for full withdrawal but used US language about a "viable" state. (Reuters)

SAUDI ARABIA WILL ONLY TALK TO ISRAEL IF IT AGREES TO COMMIT SUICIDE

Saudi Arabia Says It May Meet Israel (Der Speigel)
JERUSALEM, Aug. 1 — Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Wednesday that his country would consider attending President Bush’s planned Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in the fall, which would put Saudi officials publicly at the same table as their Israeli counterparts for the first time since 1991.

But Saudi officials said a precondition of its attendance was that the conference tackle the four big “final status” issues that had bedeviled peace negotiators since 1979: the fate of Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced to flee their homes in Israel, mostly before or during the 1948 war; the status of Jerusalem; the borders of a Palestinian state; and the dismantlement of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

“We are interested in a peace conference that deals with the substance of peace, not just form,” Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said at a news conference in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. “If it does so, it would be of great interest to Saudi Arabia.”

The Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, said later on Wednesday during meetings with Ms. Rice, who flew to Jerusalem after the talks with the Saudis in Jidda, that Israel welcomed the Saudi comments. But in a sign that the Saudi precondition may not be so easy to meet, she added that sometimes “it’s not wise to put the most sensitive issues out first.”

U.S. SHOWS FRUSTRATION WITH SAUDIS BY SELLING THEM $20B IN WEAPONS

U.S. Officials Voice Frustrations with Saudis' Role in Iraq (NYT)
Bush administration officials are voicing increasing anger at what they say has been Saudi Arabia's counterproductive role in the Iraq war. They say that the Saudis have offered financial support to Sunni groups in Iraq. Of an estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq each month, American military and intelligence officials say that nearly half are coming from Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis have not done enough to stem the flow. It appears that Saudi Arabia has stepped up efforts to undermine the Maliki government and to pursue a different course in Iraq from what the administration has charted. Saudi Arabia has also stymied a number of other American foreign policy initiatives, including a hoped-for Saudi embrace of Israel.

See also U.S.-Saudi Tensions to Increase in 2008 (Forbes/Oxford Analytica)

SO WHAT DOES AMERICA DO? (SEE BELOW). THAT'LL TEACH 'EM.

Report: White House Planning $20 Billion Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia (FOXNEWS)
The Bush administration will be asking Congress to approve a $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf states despite the concerns of some U.S. officials that the Saudis have been hampering U.S. efforts in Iraq, the New York Times reported Saturday.

The size of the proposed package, which would include advanced weaponry, has made Israel and its supporters in Congress “nervous,” the Times reported. The administration is expecting Israeli supporters and Saudi critics in Congress to oppose the deal when it is formally presented to Congress this fall.

To resolve these concerns, the administration has promised Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, and is asking the Saudis to accept restrictions on the “range, size and location of the satellite-guided bombs” and to agree not to store the weapons near Israeli territory, a U.S. official told the Times.