JEDDAH, 9 May — The Kingdom said yesterday that it was determined to keep paying out humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and dismissed Israeli claims that the money funded terrorism as baseless lies.
"Undoubtedly, we will continue extending humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority. This is natural," Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmad told reporters after attending a meeting of GCC interior ministers in Riyadh.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington had released an 85-page document alleging "large sums of money transferred by Saudi Arabia to the Palestinians" had been used to finance terror groups, including the Islamic group Hamas, and "terrorist activities, including suicide attacks inside Israel."
Prince Ahmad termed the Israeli accusations "baseless lies." He said Israel leveled the "terror" charges against the Kingdom in response to Crown Prince Abdullah’s recent successful visit to the United States.
Speaking to reporters at the Saudi Embassy in Washington on Tuesday, Adel Al-Jubeir, a foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, also dismissed the Israeli claims as "baseless and unfounded".
"It is unfortunate that the Israeli prime minister comes to Washington with the very intention of trying to derail the peace process by leveling charges against Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that are baseless," Al-Jubeir said.
The Kingdom extends humanitarian aid to all Palestinians who suffer from Israeli aggression, including families of Palestinians who die carrying out martyrdom operations, according a senior official in Riyadh. This is because "these families are not to blame for what their children do in response to Israeli killings of civilians and demolition of their homes," he explained.
The official said the Israeli accusations are "part of a political and media campaign led by Israel and its supporters in the United States against Saudi Arabia because of its principled stand in support of the Palestinians, which will not change."
The Kingdom, which raised SR600 million for the Palestinians in a telethon last month, grants SR20,000 to the family of each Palestinian martyr.
"What I can tell you for a fact is: We have given hundreds of millions of dollars to support the Palestinians and the territories. Our support is not targeted at suicide bombers. Our support goes to every Palestinian family in need," Al-Jubeir said.
"It goes to put food on tables where people have none, it goes to put pharmaceuticals in pharmacies that have run out of it (and) it goes to fix the infrastructure that was destroyed by the Israeli military operation."
The Saudi Ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, also strongly rejected the Israeli allegations.
"The Kingdom has never supported and will never support terrorism, which it strongly condemns because it runs contrary to Islamic and humanitarian principles," the ambassador said in a statement published yesterday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on Tuesday for an immediate end to the Kingdom’s support for Palestinian groups and families of suicide bombers.
Sharon, speaking hours after a suicide bombing near Tel Aviv killed 16, said Saudi Arabia would be included in a proposed Middle East peace conference only if the transfer of funds stopped.
Israel’s "campaign against the Kingdom intensified after Crown Prince Abdullah’s visit to the United States ... which goes to show that the trip produced tangible results," wrote the daily Al-Watan.
"Israel was alarmed by the Saudi initiative (endorsed by an Arab summit in late March) as well as by the success of Crown Prince Abdullah’s historic visit to the United States," said Okaz.
The Zionist state thus "resorted to waging a media and political campaign against the Kingdom, alleging that it ‘funds suicide operations’ and thereby supports terrorism," the paper said.
