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Coverage of the Events since October 2000
Hände weg von Israel und Islam!
Saudi Prince May Have Held Secret Meeting With PM Envoy
2006-09-25
www.haaretz.com/ hasen/spages/ 766699.html
Prince Bandar, secretary general of the Saudi Arabian National Security Council and former Saudi ambassador to the United States, may be the senior official at the center of reports of contacts between Riyadh and Israel, Haaretz has learned.
Early on Monday, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had held a secret meeting with a senior Saudi official, perhaps King Abdullah. Olmert later issued a guarded denial of the report.
It now appears, however, that the meeting may not have involved Olmert, but an envoy of the prime minister's, and that the prince may have been his interlocutor.
Prince Bandar visited Jordan 10 days ago, the same time period as the reported secret Olmert meeting.
The prince served for nearly 22 years as the Saudi ambassador to Washington, playing a key role in facilitating peace moves in the Middle East.
The Prime Minister's Office said in response to the Haaretz report that "We know of no such meeting."
Olmert denies meeting Saudi king
Olmert, responding to reports he had secretly met with a senior Saudi Arabian figure on September 13, was quoted as saying Monday morning that "I did not meet with the Saudi king and I did not meet with any element which should have caused a sensation in the press."
Earlier in the day, however, officials in Jerusalem had said that Olmert met with a senior Saudi official they declined to identify.
Yedioth reported that some of the unnamed Israeli officials who had served as sources for the report said that Olmert had met with King Abdullah, and others hinted the talks were with a senior official close to the king.
Later on Monday, however, the Ynet Website, which is owned by Yedioth, quoted an interview with Olmert, in which he denied the initial report.
Israel Radio later quoted a Saudi legislator, Mahmoud a-Zalfa, as having denied the report as well.
Saudi Arabia was a moving force behind a 2002 Arab peace initiative cited in a document providing the basis for a unity government that rival Palestinian factions have been trying to form.
According to the newspaper, the peace plan was a main item on the agenda of the Israeli-Saudi talks 12 days ago, along with Iran's nuclear program and achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Yedioth first reported last week that Israel and Saudi Arabia had been holding secret talks since fighting erupted in July between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The newspaper said that that talks were due to Saudi Arabia's realization that Iran - which backs and funds Hezbollah - was capable of destabilizing the Middle East.
Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
