PARIS, Jan 26: In a rare interview, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has indicated that although his country refuses to “take the blame” for the Sept 11 attacks, the event has forced Saudi Arabia nevertheless to take a hard look at not only its relations with the United States, but also on how Saudi nationals, and notably its children, might be protected in the future from such influences as Al Qaeda.

In the interview, which appeared in Saturday’s edition of French daily Le Figaro, Prince Saud, who is considered to be philosophically close to Crown Prince Abdallah, says Saudi Arabia is in the process of searching for any of its nationals “who are involved in the criminal actions”, and that “when possible, they are being arrested”.

Prince Saud did affirm, however, that his country felt in no way responsible for what had happened on Sept 11: “In attempting to blame the events on one country, Saudi Arabia, the Western media commits an injustice with some fantastic consequences.”

He noted too that such attempts at placing the blame on his country were unfair not only because Saudi Arabia “actively combated against terrorism”, but also because it had also been the victim itself of terrorism: “It’s something from which we’ve also suffered.”

Another way in which Saudi Arabia had “suffered” from the events of Sept 11, Prince Saud went on to say, was in the way certain Saudi nationals had been victims of vengeance on American soil.

But he did point out that such incidents, when they did occur, “did so without the knowledge of the US authorities who,” he added, “every time they were alerted by us, reacted correctly.”

Still, he noted, “it’s understandable that an event like Sept 11 causes some ill-informed persons to act irresponsibly,” and pointed out how “little has been said about all the message that were sent by many Saudis to the American people and about all their efforts at preventing confusion between the people of Saudi Arabia and the few Saudis who did take part in this horrible act.”

ties with us:As for his country’s relations with the United States, Prince Saud said that although they continued to rest on “some important principles and reciprocal interests” that Riyadh and Washington continued to entertain different points of view “especially with regard to Israeli policy,” what he referred to as “the particular relations” between the United States and Israel,” a point on which, he noted, “we tend to diverge a bit.”

In his eyes, he said, “the particular relations between Israel and the United States should be used to serve the interests of the peace process and not be used against it. If Israel placed these relations above its willingness to make peace with its neighbours, then I would have reason to be worried, because these particular relations would become an obstacle to peace.”

With regard to Europe, and Saudi Arabia’s turning to such countries as France and the United Kingdom when the situation in the Middle East is not going well, Prince Saud noted that “we don’t turn to Europe only when things are not going well. We have constantly asked them to play a major role, and if there has been reticence to do so, it’s come from them.

“The Europeans have always let it be known that only the United States can make things move forward in the Israeli-Arab conflict. But then Europe and the United States should not be in competition, their actions should be complementary.”

He went on to note that as a result of Sept 11, “we have decided to examine closely our errors.” For, he added, “if something good has come out of Sept 11, it’s that all the parties concerned take a long hard look at what happened and see what they can do to avoid that it happens again.”

As for Saudi Arabia, pointed out Prince Saud, it had decided to “put on the right track the Saudis who, abused by certain individiuals, joined the ranks of Al Qaeda.” Also, he noted, “we must be on our guard, educate our people, and make it become conscious of the dangers presented by organisations like Al Qaeda. In the end, I prefer preventive medecine rather than major surgery.”

education: As for accusations that had been made according to which “our educational programmes and our methods of instruction had contributed to forming terrorists,” they had “proved worrisome” and that as a result, “I naturally asked a commission to take a hard look at all the manuals used in our schools.

“Although I expected the worst, I was relieved to learn that 85 to 90 per cent of the messages capable of influending the young were destined rather to promoting peace and comprehension among the different communities.

“Close to 10 percent of them were somewhat dubious, and only 5 percent, perhaps, could be seriously called into question, but without being able to consider them as dangerous.” So, he concluded, “in the end it’s not a problem of education.”

Asked as to where the real problem lies, Prince Saudi replied that in his eyes it seemed to come moreso from outside the country than from within. “We are bombarded,” he noted, “with dramatic images of Palestinian houses destroyed by the Israeli army, or of children being killed in the arms of their parents. These images are not disseminated in our schools, but on CNN, on the BBC, indeed on French television, which we also receive.

“The Palestinian cause is exploited by the terrorists. They don’t believe in it, but in misleading our youth, they want to influence them into committing terrorist acts.

“It’s therefore neither our educational programs nor our policies - which are oriented towards peace - which motivate our youth.

“The Saudis who did take part in the September 11 attacks were themselves misled, as we see in Bin Laden’s second videocassette. He laughs. He tricked them into becoming involved in a suicide mission. They were completely unaware as to the true consequences of what they were doing.”