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Saudi Arabia says it has quit helping families of martyr bombers
Lamya Tawfik for IslamOnline and Ummahnews Saudi Arabia no longer gives money directly to relatives of Palestinian martyr bombers, but instead helps families in need through humanitarian organisations, a top Saudi official said Sunday, December 1. "What we do in that case is we give money to the Palestinian Red Cross and to the International Red Cross and to the Red Crescent Society and to the United Nations organisations to provide money to Palestinian families in need," said Adel al-Jubeir, a Saudi foreign policy advisor interviewed Sunday on CNN. "We do not designate who they should give the money to," he said. Al-Jubeir made it clear that Saudi officials "do not encourage people to engage in suicide bombings. They took a hit on that Princess Haifa episode. Even the Soddies can see how bad they look. Time to make a gesture... "Our grand mufti, our chief ... more importantly. In May, Israeli officials said they captured documents in Palestinian territory they occupied that Saudi Arabia sent large amounts of money to the families of Palestinian martyr bombers, as well as to the Islamic resistance movement Hamas- a group the U.S. has placed on its list of terrorist organisations. Only because its members explode without warning in areas crowded with non-combatants... However, a Saudi official said aid would continue because the relatives of the martyr bombers were not responsible for the actions of their family members, instead blaming the Israelis for the situation. Blaming people for other people killing them seems a stretch, but then, I never did catch on to the philosophy thing... Speaking to IslamOnline, Dr. Waheed Abdul Majeed, a political analyst from the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that the move comes as part of an Arab movement to create a truce in the occupied territories. "Hamas and Fatah will meet in Cairo after Eid, and will propose a one-year-truce in exchange for negotiations and the move is being sponsored by Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Somehow they've never managed to adhere to any previous truces, but I guess there's always hope... Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-12-02 |
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