Americans: "The Greatest Danger"

Only twelve hours before the start of the dramatic Senate roll-call vote on the AWACS, Prince Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia received a group of businessmen and TIME editors at his palace in Riyadh. Since King Khalid was ill and Crown Prince Fahd was out of the country, Abdullah, commander of the 30,000-man national guard, was the ranking member of the royal family.

He had a surprising message for Ms guests: "I personally am hoping for the failure of the vote today. That would be an eye opener for the American people. It would make them realize that there is another government that influences American policy. There is a government within the Government in the U.S. I am sorry to say this, but it is widely believed here that American policy is really run from Tel Aviv. I would like for the American people to understand who really runs their Government. When we look at the American people, we admire them as peace-loving, intelligent, industrious and accomplished. But we see certain elected representatives who want to impose policies that contradict U.S. interests. This is unfair to the American people. Those, who opposed the deal should bear the responsibility before the American people and before history."

Asked what constituted the greatest threat to Saudi Arabia's security, Abdullah answered, "American aid to Israel." In an implicit but stinging refutation of the Reagan Administration's notion that an anti-Soviet "strategic consensus" can be built around Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel, Abdullah said: "We hear constantly that the Soviet Union and Communism constitute the greatest danger to the Middle East. But as a friend, I tell you that you Americans constitute the greatest danger. The reason is your total alliance with Israel. The Arab masses feel abandoned by the U.S. and find it convenient to look to the Soviet Union instead. The policies of the U.S. often make it difficult for your friends to maintain that friendship.

"It is approaching the point where we will be helpless, where we can no longer stand up and defend that friendship. If the U.S. persists in a pro-Israel policy, the only beneficiary will be the Soviet Union. I want to beseech all of you, when you get home, to open the eyes of your officials to the fact that this policy will end in disaster for American interests, for peace and for the free world."

In August, Crown Prince Fahd announced a peace plan for the Middle East. Among other things, this plan called for a transitional United Nations trusteeship over the West Bank and Gaza until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Abdullah acknowledged that Fahd's initiative implicitly recognizes the existence of Israel, a potentially important concession: "The initiative was proposed after the Camp David accords were considered dead or at least dying. Our plan recognizes the right of Israel to exist only after, the acceptance of a Palestinian state, the return to the 1967 borders and an end to the state of belligerency. If these conditions are met, then the recognition of Israel will be de facto. How can we deny them that right?"

Other points made by Abdullah:

On U.S. support for Israel. We are not asking for the U.S. to abandon its own aid to Israel, but we want the aid to be economic rather than in the form of weapons that make Israel a threat to all around it.

On the Rapid Deployment Force and other U.S. military measures in the Persian Gulf. If Americans would recognize their true friends and their true interests in the region, there would be no need for anything of that sort.

On Saudi Arabia's internal stability and security. I would like to invite you to stay here as long as you like. Look around, so you can compare the situation here with any other place in the world. We consider the Saudi people to be one family. We are, of course, forced to bring in foreign workers because we need them in order to progress. This has been something of a problem, and it has affected security, but not in the sense of leading to crimes. Rather the influx of great numbers of foreign workers has affected certain habits and traditions. We are trying to find ways out of this crisis.

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