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US senators seek Saudi
sanctions
By Emad Mekay
WASHINGTON - After targeting both Syria and
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, some pro-Israel
United States senators have tabled a bill in Congress
that would impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia for its
alleged ties to international terrorism.
But
some observers say the bill might not pass because of
the special economic and strategic ties between
Washington and the oil-rich Arab kingdom.
The
Saudi Arabia Accountability Act for 2003 was sponsored
late last week by a group led by hawkish pro-Israel
Republican Senator Arlen Specter, a senior member of the
US Senate Judiciary Committee. Two other members of
President George W Bush's Republican Party and four
opposition Democrats also sponsored the bill.
Following the introduction of the bill, another
ardent pro-Israel congressman, Representative Anthony
Weiner, a Democrat from New York State, announced he
intends to introduce the House version of the act. At
least 18 representatives responded to his call for
co-sponsors.
The legislation follows a
"template" of sorts, that appears to have been developed
by pro-Israel senators and representatives. It includes
the Arafat Accountability Act, introduced earlier this
year, which calls on Washington to seize the assets of
the Palestinian Authority and its leader in the US,
among other measures designed to penalize Arafat for his
alleged abetting of terrorism against Israel. The act
was shelved after the administration said that it could
be counter-productive to its plans in the Middle East.
It was followed by the Syria Accountability Act,
which was passed two weeks ago. It imposes economic and
diplomatic sanctions to punish Damascus, which
Washington accuses of allowing Arab fighters access Iraq
to fight US forces there. Washington also says Damascus
supports Palestinian groups fighting Israel.
The
Saudi Accountability Act would require the president to
certify annually that Riyadh, a long-time Washington
ally, has met an extensive list of strict conditions
related to fighting terror and cooperating with the US
in related investigations.
Washington would
impose sanctions, including prohibiting the export of
any defense articles to Saudi Arabia, barring export of
materials that could be used for both military and
civilian use, and restricting travel of Saudi diplomats
to a 40 kilometer radius of the city in which their
offices are located. The travel restrictions would apply
to the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC, the Saudi United
Nations mission in New York and consulates located in
Houston and Los Angeles.
"Evidence has come to
light that there has been enormous financing of
al-Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations by the
Saudis," Specter said while introducing the bill on the
Senate floor. "Anybody who contributes to an
organization knowing that it is a terrorist organization
is really an accessory before-the-fact to murder."
Riyadh denies links to terrorist groups, saying
that it is also a target of terrorist attacks, including
a bombing earlier this month that left 17 people dead in
a compound housing mainly Arab foreign workers.
Officials vowed to use an "iron fist" against the
militants responsible.
But the Senate bill, seen
by IPS, refers only once to al-Qaeda, yet talks
repeatedly of alleged Saudi support to the Islamic
Resistance Movement, Hamas, suggesting that the real aim
of the bill is further Arab guarantees of Israel's
security.
The bill quotes the Middle East Media
Research Institute, a staunchly pro-Israel organization
founded by former officers of the Israeli intelligence
apparatus and US Jewish right-wing scholars, saying that
the Arab country had given US$4 billion to Hamas since
the Palestinians started their uprising - Intifada -
against the Israeli occupation in September 2000.
The draft bill also uses the rhetoric often
directed against Arab nations by Israeli right-wing
politicians - that their schoolbooks teach hatred
towards the Jewish state.
The bill is not the
only current initiative against Saudi Arabia. The US
Commission on International Religious Freedom has also
recommended that Congress authorize and fund a public
study to determine whether the Saudi government is
directly or indirectly funding efforts to propagate
globally an ideology that promotes hate, intolerance and
other human rights violations.
At a November 18
hearing the commission heard from witnesses including
Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel and a
democratic veteran of the Clinton administration who has
recently allied himself with neo-conservative hawks that
take a tough stance against Arab nations.
Analysts following US-Saudi Arabia relations say
regardless of the Specter bill's target and its weighty
Republican sponsors, it is unlikely to pass for several
reasons. Saudi Arabia has one-fourth of the world's
proven oil reserves, according to industry figures. The
US bought 18 percent of its foreign oil last year from
Saudi Arabia, or nearly one-fourth of Saudi exports.
"For that reason, there are important actors in
the US who are likely to oppose the legislation," said
Nathan Brown, professor of political science and
international affairs at George Washington University in
Washington.
Also impeding the bill is the close
security relationship between the two countries. A state
department spokesman told IPS that the administration is
"pleased" with Saudi security cooperation. Greg Sullivan
said the administration's view has been that measures
like the Specter bill could be counter-productive.
Others say that even if the bill did pass, it
might never be implemented. The bill also has an
unqualified waiver provision, meaning that sanctions
could be suspended by the president for any reason,
added Brown.
"Therefore it seems likely that the
intention on the part of the sponsors is to take a
symbolic rather than a practical step," said Brown. "The
Democratic sponsors might also wish to embarrass the
Bush administration, which has kept some of the disputes
with Saudi Arabia out of public view."
Tamara
Cofeman Wittes, a Middle East specialist at the United
States Institute of Peace, said the bill sends a strong
message to Saudi Arabia - but it is unlikely to go far.
"The bill is too narrowly focused," she said, adding
that it overlooks many other concerns with Riyadh that
could have brought more senators on board, including
human rights and religious freedom.
Analysts
note that one major problem with the US-Saudi
relationship is that the governments of the two
countries have always valued it more than their
populations. Public pressure on both administrations
hinders them from making public moves towards each
other.
Brown said while Washington recognizes,
for example, that certain Saudi initiatives - like the
Middle East peace plan announced last year to strike
peace deals between Israel and all of the Arab countries
- are positive steps, the US public did not appreciate
the overture.
"Saudi Arabia is not popular among
the [US] public at large, just as the US is not popular
among the Saudi public," Brown said. "For the first
time, public opinion is deeply disrupting what had been
a very close relationship for over half a century."
(Inter Press Service)
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