Foreign Affairs
Trouble in the Kingdom
By Eric Rouleau
At Sea In The Desert
Crown Prince Abdullah cut an impressive figure when he arrived in Crawford, Texas, in late April to meet with President George W. Bush. The man who has ruled Saudi Arabia ever since his half brother, King Fahd, suffered a stroke in 1995, Abdullah managed to present himself as both firm and conciliatory, establishing a productive dialogue with the American president and improving a relationship that had been badly frayed by September 11 and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. While pressuring Bush to take a more active role in the Arab-Israeli peace process, Abdullah also mollified the Americans by promising to keep Saudi oil flowing and by promoting his own groundbreaking solution to the conflict in the Middle East.
Abdullahs performance abroad, however, obscured the fact that the princes power at homeand indeed, the health of his nationhas eroded significantly. A major crisis is now brewing in Saudi Arabia, and Septembers terrorist attackscommitted by 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi citizensboth highlighted and, in a way, aggravated the tensions in the kingdom. The intense violence in the Middle East has made matters even worse. The deterioration of the Arab-Israeli situation has started to threaten the very stability of the Saudi state in a way many Westerners, particularly Americans, had not anticipated. In particular, outsiders have underestimated the anger roused in the Saudi population by the suffering of the Palestinian peopleand the fact that this suffering is blamed less on Israel than on its American protector. Given the privileged nature of relations between Washington and Riyadh, this anger has also started to focus on the House of Saud itself.
Although Westerners may not have anticipated the current crisis, it came as no surprise to Abdullah. A month before September 11, the crown prince had already warned Bush about the rising danger, asking him to intervene in the Middle East to help bring about a balanced settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to his close aides, however, Abdullahs early oral and written messages to Bush were treated with skepticism in Washington, leading the prince, in an unprecedented gesture, to refuse an invitation to visit the White House.
It was his despair at Washingtons refusal to get involved that led the crown prince to launch a bold peace initiative of his own in February, promising full normalization of relations between Israel and the entire Arab world in exchange for the implementation of the UNs resolutions on Palestine. The peace dealextended directly to the government and the people of Israelwas clearer and more precise than any that had been formulated since the creation of the Jewish state. Coming at a time when most Arabs were outraged by the Israeli armys conduct in the occupied territories, Abdullahs offer was a risky move, capable of triggering violent protests at home . . .
Eric Rouleau, a writer, was Frances Ambassador to Tunisia from 1985 to 1986 and to Turkey from 1988 to 1992.