February 24, 2006

There is a tendency to portray Egypt and Saudi Arabia as American allies and promoters of peace in the Middle East. These characterizations though don’t hold up with the record each country has played in recent years.

For example on April 2, 2002, Patrick Tyler of the NY Times reported

After more than 20 years of standing alongside American presidents in building peace in the region, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is feeling undermined by Washington, upstaged by Saudi Arabia and vulnerable before an angry Arab population, officials here say.

Or consider this from the BBC about former Ambassador Bandar ibn Sultan of Saudi Arabia

But the former “dean” of the Washington diplomatic corps has known disappointment in his career.

In an interview in 2003, Bandar told the New Yorker magazine that he had not recovered from the failed talks to resolve the Middle East crisis.

He was referring to negotiations in the last weeks of the Clinton presidency, in which he played an unpublicised role.

Disappointed? An unspecified role? Here’s what the NY Times reported that America’s good friends Egypt and Saudi Arabia were up to in Camp David in 2000

During the last few days, a number of Arab leaders like Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudia Arabia and President Mubarak have joined with Mr. Arafat’s domestic opponents in Islamic militant movements to weigh in on the issue. They all but threatened Mr. Arafat with political excommunication if he accepted Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s proposals for administrative control over parts of the city and access to — but not sovereignty over — the major Muslim sites.

Maybe Prince Bandar was disappointed that he couldn’t make up for his uncle’s role in scuttling the Camp David summit. But that doesn’t change the fact that the media shies away from critical reporting of America’s Arab “friends” in matters having to do with the peace process. (Yes I think that PM Barak was much too accomodating at Camp David, but for people who supposedly supported those concessions, they’re remarkably quiet on the Egyptian and Saudi interference.)

What brings a past Egyptian and Saudi effort to mind is this week’s snubs of Secretary of State Rice by both regimes.

First it was Egypt Egypt Rejects Appeal by Rice

Egypt rejected U.S. efforts Tuesday to win international support for a clampdown on aid to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas ministers take power, arguing that the radical Islamic group should be given time to accept Israel.

“I’m sure that Hamas will develop, will evolve. We should not prejudge the issue,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters at a news conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who arrived here on the first leg of a Middle East tour to line up support for the U.S. position.

Then it was Saudi Arabia’s turn Saudis Will Keep Up Aid Flow to Palestinians

Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab donor to the Palestinians, said Wednesday it would continue that aid despite the prospect of a Hamas-led cabinet, though it also expressed support for peace initiatives rejected by Hamas that allow for the eventual recognition of Israel.

“We wish not to link the international aid to the Palestinian people to considerations other than their dire humanitarian needs,” the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met one-on-one for nearly 2 1/2 hours with King Abdullah.

Saud’s statement put the kingdom at odds with the U.S. push to isolate the Palestinians, except for the provision of humanitarian aid. It came one day after Egyptian officials also told Rice that Islamic groups needed to be given time to evolve and accept Israel.

Stopping aid to the Hamas controlled PA (even humanitarian aid) should be a primary goal of the United States and anyone who wants peace in the Middle East. The Egyptian and Saudi snubs of the U.S. this week fit with their pattern of voting against American interests in the United Nations. They are clearly not our friends and on many issues are not even our allies.

Technorati tags: Saudi Arabia, Egypt.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad and Israpundit.