SAUDIS OFFICIALLY IGNORE & SAUDI MEDIA CONDEMNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 000807 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2019 TAGS: PREL SA IS SUBJECT: SAUDIS OFFICIALLY IGNORE & SAUDI MEDIA CONDEMNS NETANYAHU SPEECH Classified By: CDA Ambassador Richard Erdman, Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) PEACE WON'T BE MADE BY NETANYAHU -------------- ¶1. (C) To date there has been no official Saudi Government public comment on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's June 14 speech, outlining Israeli policy towards possible peace with the Palestinians. The lack of public comment is consistent with Charge's June 13 meeting with Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal, in which Charge urged the Saudis not to overreact to the speech, and the Foreign Minister replied they would be focusing not on what Netanyahu said, but on how the U.S. reacted to it. "It's an open secret on the Arab side," the Prince added, "that peace won't be made by Netanyahu." SAUDI MEDIA REACTION PREDICTABLY NEGATIVE -------------- ¶2. (U) Reaction in the Saudi media was uniformly dismissive of Netanyahu's speech: --Conservative Al-Madina opined "Arabs reject what Netanyahu offered because it closes doors before any negotiations begin. What the Israeli Prime Minister wants is a complete Arab and Palestinian surrender to Israel's demands in exchange for peace in the region." --The Managing Editor of moderate/conservative Al-Jazira wrote, "Netanyahu was attempting to deceive the Americans, particularly President Obama, by claiming that he approved of the establishment of a Palestinian state, but what kind of state was he talking about? A Palestinian state that is not related to Palestine except through its name." --The Editor of influential Al-Riyadh wrote: "Listening to Netanyahu's speech, it became very clear to me that Arab rights will never be restored by dialogue and that Israel is basically founded on aggression and obsession. Obsession over Arab rights and over international resolutions to the extent that anyone who denies the Holocaust is not considered for open dialogue, while genocidal operations against the Palestinians continue as if they are legitimate actions against a certain kind of human being. This mentality will not be confronted and the rights of the Palestinians will not be restored except through courageous violence by the Palestinians against it." --Finally, reform-minded Al-Watan wrote, "For the EU to say that Netanyahu's speech was a step in the right direction is their business. For the White House to state that the address was a step forward is their business also, but common sense says the address was negative and further complicates the unresolved issues of the Middle East, especially the Palestinian question. The step in the right direction would be to accept the Arab peace initiative." ERDMAN