Saudi Calls For Break With States Transferring Their Embassies To Jerusalem
DOHA (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday called for a cut in diplomatic relations with any country that transfers its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed holy city of Jerusalem.
"It is our duty to underline the need to break diplomatic relations with any country which transfers its embassy to Jerusalem," said Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz at the Islamic summit in Doha.
The proposal, part of measures proposed to Islamic leaders by their foreign ministers at a preparatory meeting, was seen to target the U.S., a close ally of Riyadh, whose Congress has proposed such a move.
Israel seized the Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of an independent state of their own, in the 1967 Middle East war.
Prince Abdullah also urged member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) "to reduce to a minimum their relations with Israel and to freeze them completely."
OIC states should "link all contact with the Jewish state to concrete progress in the peace process, not only on the Palestinian track but on all the tracks," he said, referring to Israel's frozen peace talks with Syria and Lebanon.
The crown prince, whose country hosts the OIC’s headquarters and contains Islam's two holiest sites - Mecca and Medina, had threatened to boycott the Doha summit until Qatar bowed to pressure from both Riyadh and Tehran to close down an Israeli trade mission in the 11th hour.
