Saudi doubling efforts to heal Arab rifts

Riyadh: Riyadh is doubling its efforts to heal rifts between Arab states, a senior Saudi source has told Gulf News. Indicative to this, the source pointed to the recent visit of Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the King’s advisor to Damascus.

Preferring anonymity, the source said the Saudi envoy discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Saudi King Abdullah had reconciliation meetings with Syrians, Egyptians and Qataris on the sidelines of the Arab Economic Summit in Kuwait in January 2009. Saudi political analyst Fawaz Al Otaibi says the latest diplomatic efforts are very promising and that Saudi has a vital interest to achieve reconciliation between Syria and Egypt, as it will have a positive affect on reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah.