Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah receives Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Al-Baha airport on Tuesday. (SPA)

JEDDAH, 26 July 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah called yesterday for the international community to press for an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, warning that the crisis could drag the whole region into a war with no foreseeable results.

“Patience cannot last forever and if the brutal Israeli military forces continue their killings and destruction, no one can foresee what may happen and no regret will be of any use when the forbidden happens,” said the Royal Court statement quoting the king.

“The Kingdom also warns everyone that if the peace option is dropped owing to Israeli arrogance there would remain nothing but the option of war, and Allah alone knows what the region would witness in a war that would not spare anyone,” said the statement, released by the Saudi Press Agency.

The statement continued: “The Arabs have earlier made public their strategic option for peace and submitted a fair and clear program involving the return of the occupied Arab territories for peace. However the world refused to respond because of the (Israeli) instigation.”

The statement once again appealed to the United Nations “and to the United States in particular” to strive for a cessation of violence.

The king highlighted his country’s efforts to win a cease-fire, such as sending Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and National Security Council Secretary-General Prince Bandar “to meet the US president in Washington in order to convey to him the Kingdom’s view.”

The king’s stance on the Middle East crisis was lauded by people who said the time was right for diplomacy to succeed.

Meanwhile, the king paused his tour of Al-Baha region yesterday to meet there with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in order to discuss the crisis. The two leaders met at Al-Baha’s scenic Raghdan forest camp where the king hosted a lunch in Mubarak’s honor.

The two men discussed the developments in the Arab, Islamic and international arenas and ways to expand the existing cooperation between the two countries.

The king also announced yesterday aid and assistance to Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority totaling $1.75 billion, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

One billion dollars will go directly to Lebanon’s Central Bank to help stabilize the country’s economy while $500 million will be earmarked for reconstruction. The Palestinians will receive $250 million.

“The Kingdom has been shouldering the responsibility put on it by religious and national obligations toward the region to avert the consequences of the happenings in Lebanon and occupied Palestine,” said the royal statement. “The Kingdom has also strived since the first moment to stop the hostilities and has acted in various ways to persuade the international community to force Israel to a cease-fire,” it added.

The royal statement also alluded to the public donation campaign that kicks off today to raise money to increase aid to Lebanon and the Palestinians.

In London, Prince Saud said after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, “I think we both agree that the real solution is to have Lebanon regain its sovereignty and territorial integrity,”

“For that to happen there must be a first step, which is a cease-fire to stop the bombing that is happening.”

Asked what he thought of the British support for the US position on the conflict, he replied: “I hope the support will be for the Lebanese people. This is what we are urging. The crisis is Lebanon’s crisis, not Britain’s or Saudi Arabia’s or America’s crisis.”

Later Prince Saud and Prince Bandar met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to convey a message from King Abdullah on the present crisis.

President Putin expressed his confidence that the efforts by the Kingdom, Russia and other parties will find an acceptable solution to the crisis.

London-based Middle East analyst Mushtak Parker told Arab News yesterday that the king’s statement would add to the pressure on Israel to stop hostilities.

“King Abdullah rightly felt that if Israel’s barbaric aggression was allowed to go on like this, the region would sleepwalk into a disaster,” said Parker. “What Israel is doing is reprehensible and there is no moral equivalent for it. You cannot kill an entire family and tell its only surviving member, ‘Sorry, your family has been sacrificed to the war on terror.’ The Israeli stance was hollow right from the start.”

Parker also said that Israel’s condition of not talking to Hezbollah was “idiotic”.

“There have been instances where warring parties have talked to each other in search of a solution,” he said. “For example, West Germany was talking to East Germany at the height of the Cold War. Even today, the international community and South Korea are engaged in negotiations with the North Koreans. Basically, Israel is not interested in any peace.”

Parker said the king’s generous donation would bolster reconstruction once a cease-fire is in place. “The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and other institutions should immediately come forward to help in this reconstruction effort,” he said.

Dr. Khaled Batarfi, managing editor of Al-Madinah Arabic daily, said he was happy at the position taken by the king.

“I liked what he said, especially the part about Arabs no longer accepting to be on the receiving end while Israel lives in prosperity,” said Dr. Batarfi. “The king rightly mentioned that the flames of war that Israel ignited will eventually blow back and consume it.”

Samar Fatany, a Jeddah-based radio journalist, said she was not surprised by the king’s statement. “This is what we expected from our beloved king,” she said. “We were confident that he would not continue to be silent about what was happening in Lebanon. I am sure the outside world now knows Saudi Arabia’s firm stance on the conflict. Israeli barbarity should stop.”

Fatany said Saudi Arabia generally is guarded in its response to any crisis. “This is just the Saudi way of diplomacy,” said Fatany. “It should in no way create doubts in anyone’s mind about the Kingdom’s resolve in this matter. We are with Lebanon.”

In Beirut, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said that the deposit of $1 billion with the central bank was to “strengthen reserves in a bid to back the government’s efforts to consolidate the stability of the national currency.”

He said Saudi individuals and institutions, both public and private, had also made significant donations.