October 13, 2001	Saturday	Rajab 25, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

NEW YORK Oct 12: New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Thursday rejected a $10 million donation from a Saudi prince, who while condoling the deaths of thousands of people in the Sept 11 attacks criticized the American policy in the Middle East.

The donor was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud, one of the many foreign visitors, who have gone to the carnage scene of the World Trade Centre, known as ground zero, with the mayor since the trade centre attack last month.

According to a report in the New York Times, the prince, who is the chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company and was No. 6 in July on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people, attended a memorial service at the site with Mr Giuliani.

There, he gave the mayor a check of $10 million for the Twin Towers Fund, a charity set up by the mayor primarily for survivors of uniformed workers, who died.

Mr Giuliani initially accepted the check. With the check was a letter from the prince, in which he expressed his condolences for “the loss of life that the city of New York has suffered.”

The letter continued, “I would also like to condemn all forms of terrorism, and in doing so I am reiterating Saudi Arabia’s strong stance against these tragic and horrendous acts.”

But the letter did not say what a news release attached to a copy of the letter did: “However, at times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance towards the Palestinian cause.”

The news release attributed the statement to the prince. The sentiment reflected the tack the Saudis have generally taken, condemning the Sept 11 attacks while trying to be supportive of the Palestinian cause.

“Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek”, the release read.

The mayor, who was told of the news release just moments before his daily briefing, but after receiving the check, was visibly annoyed by it. “I entirely reject that statement. That’s totally contrary to what I said at the United Nations”, he said, referring to his address on Oct 1.

“There is no moral equivalent for this act”, he said and added that “the people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people. And to suggest that there’s a justification for it only invites this happening in the future. It is highly irresponsible and very, very dangerous.”

Mr Giuliani stated that he would consult with the State Department before deciding what to do with the check. An hour later, his press office released statements attributed to the mayor saying that the check had not been deposited and would not be.

A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the mayor’s office had informed it of the prince’s remarks but it had offered no opinion on what to do with the check because it was not a United States government matter.

“In terms of remarks linking the attacks to our policy, we object to Prince Alwaleed’s remarks and find them highly inappropriate”, the official said.

The leader of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government said in remarks published on Friday that Osama bin Laden could not be handed over to the US because it was against Afghanistan’s principles and religion, adds Reuters.

“Afghan principles and religion prevent surrendering bin Laden”, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted Mullah Mohammad Omar as saying in extracts from the full text of an interview to be published on Saturday in a sister magazine.

“The man fought jihad (holy war) against the Soviets with us and spent his money on that and so did our other Muslim guests, so all of them have the right to our hospitality as long as they are complying with our rules”, he told Al Majalla magazine.

On Thursday, US President George W. Bush offered the Taliban one last chance to surrender Osama, Washington’s prime suspect in the Sept 11 hijacked airliner attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon, which left about 5,400 people dead.

It was not clear when the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader gave the interview.

Omar said there was no “evidence that firmly confirms” Osama’s involvement in the attacks in which hijackers seized four commercial airliners, slammed two into the World Trade Centre and another into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania.