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Saudi Arabia and the Arab–Israeli Conflict in the Last Years of the Bush Presidency

In an unprecedented event of November 2008, Israeli leaders, and heads of states from several Arab, Muslim and other countries attended a United Nations conference in New York City on promoting a global dialogue on religions, cultures and common values. The list of attendees included the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the emirs of Kuwait and Bahrain, the presidents of Israel, the United States, Finland, Pakistan and Lebanon, and the prime ministers of Britain, Qatar, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Djibouti, and Egypt. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia took the initiative to call for a meeting between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious communities. The king discussed his ideas with the Pope when he visited the Vatican in 2007. Addressing the conference, the Saudi monarch called for all peoples and nations to promote peace, harmony and tolerance, saying: ‘terrorism and criminality are the enemies of every religion and every civilization’. In response, the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, said, ‘Your Majesty, the king of Saudi Arabia, I was listening to your message. I wish that your voice will become the prevailing voice of the whole region, of all people. It’s right. It’s needed. It’s promising’. Peres also stated that King Abdullah’s peace initiative must be considered as a ‘serious opening for real progress in Middle East peace’. This rare gathering of Arab and Israeli leaders and calls for tolerance, mutual respect and co-existence is a significant development in the decades-long search for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. It also reflects new strategic dynamics in the region, including a more assertive Iran and the accumulation of unprecedented oil wealth. This article examines Saudi Arabia’s role in the Arab–Israeli conflict. The following section briefly discusses Saudi participation in the Arab– Israeli wars. This is followed by an analysis of two Saudi peace initiatives— the Fahd Plan (1981) and Abdullah Plan (2002). The third section focuses