SAUDI KING Abdullah appealed to the world today to stop Israeli attacks on Lebanon, saying that if peace moves fail, the Middle East could be engulfed in war.
In a statement read out on state television, the king said he was warning the world, particularly the US.
He said: “If the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war, and God alone knows what the region would witness in a conflict that would spare no one.”
The king has decreed donations totalling $1.5 billion (€1.19bn) to Lebanon, said the royal court statement. The king has assigned $500m (€397m) for the reconstruction of Lebanon, and $1bn (€795m) to be deposited in Lebanon’s central bank to support the economy.
Abdullah also ordered a grant of $250,000 (€198,000) to the Palestinians, the statement said. Israel has waged a military campaign against the Gaza Strip since shortly after Palestinian militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier from inside Israel on June 25.
The king said that the Saudi government had been trying to bring a halt to the violence since it began on July 12, when Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid from Lebanon.
More than 390 people have been killed in Lebanon during the past 14 days and another 600,000 Lebanese displaced. More than 40 Israelis have been killed, many in Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel.
“If the brutal Israeli military continues to kill and destroy, no one can foresee what may happen,” the king said.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait have rebuked Hezbollah for the fighting in Lebanon, where the Saudis described the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers as an “uncalculated adventure”.
The king’s talk of “Israeli arrogance” will find broad appeal in the Arab world, where many people have accused their governments of doing nothing to stop the assault on Lebanon.
Abdullah’s statement comes a day before the kingdom takes part in today’s international conference on the crisis in Rome, which is scheduled to draw US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Western and Arab envoys.
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