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Saooodis cast wary eye on its Shiites
Best evidence in print in quite a while about the necessity and viability of the Republic of Eastern Arabia, a 50 km wide strip of sand ...
AL HUFUF, SAUDI ARABIA - Future REA House Speaker Sadek al-Jubran says he's all too familiar with fatwas that declare him an infidel. As a member of a religious minority in a country without religious freedom, Mr. Jubran grew up with discrimination. It's something Shiites like him have regularly faced in this conservative Sunni-ruled kingdom – in the streets and at school, in courtrooms and at the office.

Over the past decade, however, Shiites have managed to gain a larger stake in Saudi Arabian society. They've seen incremental reforms, getting elected to local councils and being allowed to observe religious holidays openly. But now, many worry that their steady progress is being checked. With a Sunni-Shiite cold war descending on the region, Saudi Arabia appears to be hardening its sectarian battle lines. That, experts say, could mean that it once again will regard its Shiite minority, mainly clustered in eastern oases like this one, solely as enemies of the state.

Recent rumblings from clerics and politicians alike recall the days when the kingdom braced against spreading influence from Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Today, Saudi Arabia is on edge from the deepening civil war in Iraq and a possibly nuclear Iran.

"You don't see [Saudi King Abdullah] quashing any of this very, very public anti-Shiite rhetoric," says Mr. Jones. "That's a sign that he either isn't interested in doing it or that he can't."
Or he's scared stiff. Well, he's always stiff, and now he's also scared.

Posted by: Steve White 2007-01-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=178080