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Saudi Arabia
The Palestinians
The Saudis believed that the failure to resolve the grievances
of the Palestinians was the primary reason for political instability
and conflict in the Middle East. The Saudi position in 1992 was
generally the same as the one set out by Fahd in an eight-point
peace plan he proposed in August 1981. The key points called for
an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Jordanian
and Egyptian territories where the majority of the inhabitants
were Palestinian that Israel occupied as a consequence of the
June 1967 War; the dismantling of exclusive Jewish settlements
created by Israel in these territories since 1967; the eventual
establishment of an independent Palestinian state consisting of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem--part of the
West Bank from 1948 to 1967--as its capital; and just compensation
for Palestinians dispossessed of their lands and homes during
the establishment of Israel in 1948. Fahd's proposals represented
the mainstream consensus that had evolved among most Arabs and
Palestinians by the early 1980s. The Saudis were convinced that
the Fahd Plan was a workable solution; they felt extremely disappointed
that neither Israel nor the United States gave the plan serious
consideration.
During the 1980s, Saudi Arabia was the principal financial backer
of the PLO. For Riyadh, this support was both a moral and a pragmatic
imperative. Saudis sincerely believed that the Palestinians had
suffered a grave injustice and that all Arabs had an obligation
to provide assistance. On a more practical level, the Saudis acknowledged
that conditions in the refugee camps helped to breed Palestinian
radicalism; they thus perceived monetary aid to Palestinian leaders
as a means of maintaining a moderate influence within the Palestinian
movement. The PLO's public support for Saddam Husayn during the
Persian Gulf War shocked the Saudis. The government retaliated
by cutting off its aid to the PLO. As of early 1992, the Saudis
remained bitter about the failure of the Palestinians to support
them during the war, and relations with the PLO had not been normalized.
Data as of December 1992
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