In addition to the King Abdullah at the White House articles and videos over on SUSRIS.com following this week’s visit, you should look at yesterday’s Arab News editorial, “Quiet Diplomacy.” It takes note that, as is typical with meetings between American and Saudi officials, not much of consequence was shared with the media. However, it points out some important points on the progress made on the bilateral agenda and in the tasks that lie ahead for Riyadh and Washington, “an important and bold initiative was required for the creation of a Palestinian homeland,” among them.
Of the nature of the relationship AN speculates that the president and the king “have struck up a good relationship in which the president has looked to the king for advice. It was after all immediately after his visit to Riyadh that Obama went to Cairo to make his apparently ground-breaking speech seeking a new start to US relations with the Arab world.” Reflecting much of the sentiment shared around the anniversary of the Cairo speech, addressed in SUSRIS.com postings, the editorial added, “The king may well have pointed out that a year on, the president’s compelling rhetoric has yet to be matched with concrete results. Even though there has been a noticeable shift in Washington’s attitude to Israel, the Netanyahu government has yet to render more than lip service to a restart of talks.”
AN believes King Abdullah urged Obama to apply more pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister when he is Washington on July 6 as, “The stark truth is that until the Israelis cease their obfuscation and delaying tactics, the Middle East will remain unstable.” The editorial concludes with a tip of the hat to King Abdullah’s key role in Middle East peacemaking:
“It can be certain that the king restated his determination to do whatever is necessary to advance both peace and understanding. To achieve this, the architect of the 2002 Arab-Israeli peace initiative, which remains the core set of principles on which negotiations are being based, will continue to play a quiet and patient diplomatic role.”
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