Saudi urges US to withhold Israel aid

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has urged Barack Obama, the US president, to follow up his speech to the Muslim world with tangible action, including applying stronger pressure on Israel to accept a viable Palestinian state.

“The United States has the means to persuade the Israelis to work for a peaceful settlement,” Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, said in an interview with Newsweek, a US magazine. “It needs to tell them that if it is going to continue to help them, they must be reasonable and make reasonable concessions.”

Asked if the US should withhold aid to Israel, Prince Saud said: “Why not? If you give aid to someone and they indiscriminately occupy other people’s lands, you bear some responsibility.”

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