Saudi cleric says peace not possible with Israel (Jews must be terminated)

Reuters ^ | 4/19/2002 | Reuters

[l33t]

Saudi cleric says peace not possible with Israel

    By Inal Ersan 
    DUBAI, April 19 (Reuters) - A top Saudi Arabian Muslim 
cleric prayed to God on Friday to "terminate" the Jews and urged 
Arabs and Muslims to abandon efforts to make peace with Israel. 
    "We must say farewell to peace initiatives with these people 
(Jews)," Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais told worshippers at the 
Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest shrine, in a sermon, 
carried live by several Arabic television and radio networks. 
    He prayed to God to "terminate" the Jews, whom he described 
as "the scum of humanity... the rats of the world... prophet 
killers... pigs and monkeys". 
    The sermon by Sudais, one of the top imams at the Grand 
Mosque, was unusually fiery in a country largely seen to follow 
moderate foreign policy and to be a close ally of the United 
States and other Western countries. 
    Arab anger has been on the rise since Israel launched its 
military offensive on the West Bank two weeks ago at a time when 
Arab nations adopted a Saudi proposal for peace with the Jewish 
state. 
    The Saudi government is closely interlocked with the 
powerful religious establishment, but religious sermons do not 
necessarily reflect official government thinking. 
    Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has been 
increasingly critical of the United States and its apparent 
failure to bring about a ceasefire in the Middle East. 
    It has recently allowed pro-Palestinian demonstrations to 
absorb popular anger in a country where other street rallies are 
banned. 
         UGLY WAR 
    Sudais, who ranks high in the Saudi religious heirarchy 
which allows only senior clerics to preach at the Grand Mosque, 
said Israel was carrying out an war of "ugly annihilation" 
against the Palestinians. 
    "When the (Muslim) nation opted for peace to achieve its 
greater interests they (Jews) did not reciprocate," he said. 
    Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah is due to visit the United 
States next week to discuss the conflict and the peace offer 
with U.S. President George W. Bush -- seen by many Arabs and 
Muslims as biased in favour of Israel. 
    "World leaders, you who claim to be fighting terrorism, what 
do you call what those people did to Palestinians?" asked 
Sudais. "Are the aspirations of a billion Muslims to safeguard 
their sanctities considered terrorism?" he added. 
    "They (Jews) want to establish a greater Israel with 
Jerusalem as its capital and they aspire to tear down the 
al-Aqsa mosque (Islam's third holiest shrine) to build their 
so-called temple on its ruins," he said. 
    He urged Muslim leaders to "rescue Palestine before it is 
lost." 
 ((Gulf newsroom +971 4 391 8301, fax +971 4 391 8335, 
dubai.newsroom@reuters.com)) 

19 APR 2002 15:06:55 Saudi cleric says peace not possible with Israel

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[uglybiker]

You can see it coming now. It won't be long...

At which point the U.S. can declare the country a haven for terrorists and go in and clean house.