McAlexander on Tue, 23 Apr 2002 04:30:01 +0200 (CEST) |
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[Nettime-bold] Saudi intellectuals say U.S. and Israel are axis of evil |
Sun Apr 21,11:36 AM ET RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A group of Saudi intellectuals and writers has condemned the United States and Israel and described them as the axis of evil in the world - borrowing a phrase U.S. President George Bush has used for Iran, Iraq and North Korea (news - web sites). The 113 Saudis, some of them prominent writers for respected Saudi papers, said the American role in the Israeli military operation against the Palestinians was "shameful" and said the "Israeli massacres do not differ in shape or form from what the Nazis did." The writers called in a statement released Saturday on all Arab governments to severe diplomatic, political and economic ties with Israel and urged Arabs to boycott all American products. "We consider the United States and the current American administration the nurturer of international terrorism with distinction and it, along with Israel, form the axis of terrorism and evil in the world," said the statement. The statement said Arab governments should take "serious and responsible steps ... and apply all means of pressure on the American administration to make it feel that its huge interests in the Arab region are threatened." It said failure to do so will lead to "national disasters that will include everyone." Among the signatories were a writer for the widely respected Al-Hayat and a former undersecretary of the Saudi Interior Ministry. The statement comes at a time when anti-American sentiment is at a high level over what Arabs see as U.S. support for Israel in the conflict with the Palestinians. On Friday, the chief cleric of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheik Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, called on the Arabs to abandon peace efforts with Israel because they were "impossible." Al-Sudais said Arabs should bid farewell to peace with the Jews, whom he described as "the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the killers of prophets and the grandsons of monkeys and pigs." He called on Muslims to stand with the Palestinians financially and in kind, saying that peace with Israel was futile because it only "accepts liquidating its opponent, taking over his land, making his people homeless and canceling his dignity. They want the state of Greater Israel. They want to eliminate the nation of one God and the Quran." _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold