RIYADH, July 25: Saudi King Abdullah warned on Tuesday that a full scale war may engulf the entire region if the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and Palestinians continued.
“Saudi Arabia warns everybody that if the peace option fails because of Israeli arrogance, there will be no other option but war,” the king emphasised. “No one can predict what will happen if things get out of control,” he said in a statement read out on television on Tuesday.
“The Arabs have declared peace as a strategic choice and put forward a clear and fair proposal of land for peace and have ignored extremist calls opposing the peace proposal, but patience cannot last forever,” he warned.
The king was referring to an Arab peace initiative, proposed by Saudi Arabia and adopted in a 2002 Beirut Arab summit, which offers Israel a comprehensive peace in return for Arab land it seized in the 1967 Middle East war. It ensured normal coexistence with Israel in the region, if Tel Aviv returns to the pre-1967 position.
The king decreed donations totaling US$1.5 billion to Lebanon, the royal court statement said, giving $500 million for the reconstruction of Lebanon and $1 billion to be deposited in the war-torn country’s central bank to support the economy.
Along with donating to Lebanon, King Abdullah also ordered a grant of US$250 million to the Palestinians, the statement said. Israel has conducted a military campaign against the Gaza Strip since shortly after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier from inside Israel on June 25.
The king said the Saudi government had been trying to bring a halt to the violence since it began on July 12, when Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid from Lebanon.
More than 390 people have been killed in Lebanon and up to 750,000 Lebanese displaced. At least 40 Israelis also have been killed, many in Hezbollah rockets attacks on northern Israel.
“It must be said that patience can’t last forever, and if the brutal Israeli military continues to kill and destroy, no one can foresee what may happen,” the king said.
MEETING WITH BLAIR: In London, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair: “We both agree the real solution is to have Lebanon come back to its sovereignty and its territorial integrity but for that to happen there is a necessary first step which is a ceasefire to stop the carnage,” agencies add.
“It is Lebanese people who are dying, Lebanese infrastructure which is being destroyed and for no fault of the Lebanese people themselves,” Saud said.
Saud held talks with Bush in Washington on Sunday and requested the US back an immediate ceasefire in Israeli attacks.
Meanwhile, aid workers have started supply runs into southern Lebanon but some villages remain cut off, the Red Cross said on Tuesday, and a UN agency warned a food crisis was looming in areas worst hit by Israeli bombardment.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had set up two southern bases, in the port of Tyre and the town of Marjayoun, and was sending medical assistance to border villages needing urgent help after two weeks of war.
