Saudis slam PM's AIPAC speech

Official says country expects Quartet clarification over “Israeli arrogance."

Saudi King Abdullah (photo credit: Associated Press)
Saudi King Abdullah
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Monday speech at the AIPAC conference drew harsh criticism from Saudi Arabia, accusing him of endangering the peace process, according to an Al-Arabia report quoting the official Saudi Press Agency SPA.
A Saudi official is also quoted as saying that his country expects clarification from the Quartet over “Israeli arrogance...defiance of international will as well as violation of all the international laws and legislations.”
In Netanyahu’s speech, he declared that “Jerusalem is not asettlement,” responding to new criticism of Jewish housing constructionin east Jerusalem.
The official also asserted that Israel"blatantly confiscated Palestinian, Arab and Islamic rights inJerusalem without any regard to Palestinian, Arab and Islamic rights”in the wake of the Netanyahu government's plan to build 1,600 homes inRamat Shlomo.
"Saudi Arabia has always called upon theinternational community to bear the responsibility of dealing with theIsraeli one-sided defiance that usually opposes the peace process," theofficial said.