DAVOS, Switzerland
Security in the Middle East region depends solely on Palestinians getting their own state, the Saudi ambassador to the US said on Thursday.
Speaking at the World Economic
Forum in Davos during a Saudi-focused panel discussion, Princess Reema bint
Bandar said the Kingdom fully recognized Israel’s need and desire for security
following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants.
However, that security would
not come “at the expense” of the safety of the Palestinian people, and there is
a need for an immediate ceasefire, she added.
“How many more children need
to die? How many more limbs need to be lost? How many more parents need to lose
their livelihoods? It cannot happen anymore; the Kingdom has condemned violence
on both sides,” she said.
She also said the Middle East
is united in its calls for peace in Gaza, while acknowledging that the region
is going through a volatile period, recognizing the “daily shock” of the Gazan
people, and adding that it is vital to “do the right thing for the future.”
While Israeli forces continue
to kill Palestinian civilians, the topic of normalization of relations with
Israel could not be discussed, Princess Reema said.
“The Kingdom has continuously
extended a hand for peace, but when we look at the other hand, which has
carried the Palestinian people toward statehood, that is a responsibility we
take seriously,” she added.
“The Kingdom’s policy is a
finite, irrevocable path that means ‘today’ for the Palestinian people.”
Saudi ministers Adel
Al-Jubeir, Mohammed Al-Jadaan and Faisal Alibrahim also participated in the
panel discussion.
Al-Jubeir, the minister of
state for foreign affairs, said the world must be pragmatic about the
transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy, and that the Kingdom is
ideally placed to take a lead on that front.
“We’re saying, let’s produce
(oil) efficiently, let’s produce alternative sources of energy so that we can
meet future demands, let’s see what else we can do in terms of carbon capture,
let’s change attitudes,” he said.
“Let’s fix this problem. We
have the science, we have the resources as a global community, what we need is
the will and determination to deal with this issue in a practical, realistic,
non-emotional and non-hypocritical manner.”
Al-Jadaan, the Kingdom’s
finance minister, said he remains committed to “doubling down” on progressing
the Saudi economy in the face of the geopolitical challenges the region faces.
“The region, and the world,
needs a strong Saudi Arabia,” he said. “If we are not strong, we are not going
to be able to help the region.
"The outlook, despite all
the shocks the world has seen, is actually very positive because we approached
this from a position of strength, especially on the fiscal side over the past
seven years when we enhanced the way we manage public finance.”
No comments:
Post a Comment