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New York Rejects Saudi Prince's Donation Over Criticism Row
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - New York Thursday rejected a $10 million donation for victims of the World Trade Center attack from a senior member of the Saudi royal family after he criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East.
Mayor Rudy Giuliani described comments by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz, the nephew of King Fahd and the kingdom's most prominent businessman, as "highly irresponsible" and "dangerous," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Giuliani earlier toured the rubble of the trade center with Waleed, who offered the check for the Twin Towers Fund, set up to help families of emergency service workers killed in the September 11th terrorist attack.
But after hearing Waleed's comments, which condemned the attack but suggested Washington should learn from it and take a more objective approach to its foreign policy in the Middle East, Giuliani's office issued a statement saying the check had been rejected.
"When we became aware of Prince Waleed's statements, we investigated whether the check had been deposited. The check has not been deposited. The Twin Towers Fund has not accepted it," said the statement.
Waleed said he came to visit "Ground Zero" to offer condolences to families of victims of the attack, which left some 5,160 people missing or dead, and to condemn terrorism.
"However, at times like these, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack," he said, according to a statement issued by his Kingdom Holdings Company in Riyadh.
"I believe the government of the United States should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause," he added, calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a move already sanctioned by the United Nations in several adopted resolutions.
"While the U.N. passed clear resolutions, numbered 242 and 338, calling for the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip decades ago, our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek," al-Waleed's statement said, reported CNN news online.
Al-Waleed is listed by Forbes Magazine as the sixth-richest man in the world, with a fortune of more than $20 billion, and is a major investor in the United States with stakes in prominent U.S. ventures that include Citigroup, AOL Time Warner, News Corp, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
"The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered four or five thousand innocent people, and to suggest that there is a justification for it only invites this happening in the future," said the mayor.
"It is highly irresponsible and very, very dangerous. Not only are those statements wrong, they are part of the problem."
The embarrassing row comes amid sniping in the U.S. press over the lack of cooperation from the Saudis in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident accused of masterminding the September 11th terrorist attacks.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said he was unaware of Waleed's statement and had no immediate comment.
The statement noted that the prince, who did postgraduate studies at Syracuse University, located in New York state, has "a special affinity to New York," with "numerous investment ventures in the Big Apple."
"I speak for all Muslims, Arabs and Saudis when I say that we represent the absolute antithesis of terror...I also want to reiterate Saudi Arabia's stance in condemning all forms of terrorism," said the prince.
In an interview with CNN, recorded before Giuliani's actions, Prince al-Waleed said Riyadh was cooperating fully with Washington in the hunt for bin Laden.
Waleed said that despite the U.S. attacks on the Taliban, President George W. Bush is eventually "going to have to look at the root of the problem, he has no other choice."
"America's blind alliance and favoritism towards Israel is not helping them a lot, because you have to understand that Arab people every day see Palestinians being slaughtered.
"They believe that really the United States is the main backer of Israel in what's going on," added the prince, saying many in the Arab world believed Washington could pressure Israel to implement the U.N. resolutions it has thus far ignored.
Waleed said after the United States had hunted down bin Laden, it should try to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world.
"Begin showing the Middle Eastern people, the Islamic world, and the Palestinians specifically, that it is taking real steps towards rectifying this major problem they have in the Middle East," he said.
Earlier last week, in an interview with a French-based Monte Carlo radio station, the Prince's father, Talal bin Abdel Aziz, said that the Arabs took the side of bin Laden not because they are convinced of what he does, but because of their hatred of U.S. policy in the Middle East.
When asked about Bush's declaration on the right of Palestinians to have an independent state, Prince Abdel Aziz said, "I hope that this statement is not a short term tactic, but a part of the American foreign policy."
"Many steps precede the formation of a Palestinian state, the most important of which being a halt of the incoming flow of Jewish settlers," the Saudi prince said.
Prince Talal strongly opposed labeling Hamas or Hezbulloh "terrorist" groups, saying that "any country, whether Muslim, Christian or Buddhist, and which harbors terrorists must turn them in for a trial."
Saudi Arabia is reported to have turned down a request for U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to visit the desert kingdom on his current tour of the Middle East, said BBC's online news service.
Downing Street denied the prime minister had been rebuffed, saying Blair had discussed making a visit in a telephone call with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah last week but it could not be fitted into Blair's schedule.
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