HRH Prince Turki al-Faisal gave his first televised interview with the Israeli media station Haaretz, and told the outlet that if Netanyahu was a far-sighted leader, he would negotiate on the basis of the Arab Peace initiative.
If Benjamin Netanyahu “was more of a far-sighted leader, he would break the logjam and negotiate on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative” which would “remove the doubts and suspicions on the Arab side.”
“It’s a matter of political will. It used to be the Arabs who said no, and they galvanized popular support for that claim. Unfortunately, it is now Israel who is saying no. It’s obvious that that the United States won’t push Israel, but there’s nobody else who can. President Obama was all gung-ho when he began his administration but then he backed down. It was very disappointing.”
Prince Turki al-Faisal.
Prince Turki, a former Saudi Ambassador to the United States and head of intelligence in Saudi Arabia, was educated in the United States. A graduate of the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, he subsequently pursued an undergraduate degree at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
The Prince has long discussed in the media and championed the late King Abdullah’s Arab Peace Initiative, but in recent months, the struggle for peace between Israel and Palestine has been overshadowed by other regional events, including the rise of ISIS, the Saudi-led conflict in Yemen, Syria’s civil war and Iranian aspirations.
In a May 2015 interview with German news outlet Der Spiegel, Prince Turki was not asked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
