Prince Saud Al-Faisal holds press conference on Gulf

Riyadh, January 16, SPA--Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister
said that among the most important achievements of the Extraordinary
Summit held in Riyadh are the restoration of cohesion in the Gulf
rank, following-up the crisis that has befallen the Palestinian
people in Gaza, and building up a climate of understanding and
harmony. He hoped that will be reflected in Kuwait Summit.

In a press conference held here last night and attended by the
Minister of Culture and Information Iyad bin Amin Madani and
Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Hamad Al-Atiyyah,
Prince Saud said that Kuwait Summit will discuss the issue of the
Gaza Strip, noting that Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber
Al-Sabah, told the GCC leaders that the first item on the agenda of
Kuwait summit will be the Palestinian issue and the tragedy of the
Palestinian people in Gaza as a result of the Israeli aggression.
Prince Saud stressed that this time is one of the most important
times of the Arab solidarity, saying "The challenge is not simple.
Unless the efforts are united, the confrontation of the challenges
will be less effective."

Prince Saud indicated that the GCC leaders discussed ways of
providing financial support for the Gaza Strip, noting that there
will be generous donations.

As regards the validity of the Arab initiative after the Israeli
aggression on Gaza, he said, "The initiative is valid; but the second
party should accept it in order to be productive. The other party
fails and procrastinates to accept it . It does not want to agree
because it does not want peace. It wants to gain land. It will be
pleased if the initiative falls and no one speaks about it."
Prince Saud said,” The Arab initiative has enabled the Arab states to
penetrate the ranks of Israel's supporters in Europe and the Western
world, and has become a pressuring factor on Israel. If the
initiative is frozen, it will not be implemented; and if it is
cancelled, it will not be implemented. Then what is the objective of
canceling it as long as there is a way to put pressure on Israel and
decrease the states supporting it. "
--SPA