Riyadh, May 11: Saudi Arabia has criticised US President George W Bush's questioning of an internationally agreed 2005 target date for Palestinian statehood, saying it served Israeli policies. "Such statements serve Israeli demands and practices of breaching the rules of the peace process from the outset," a statement issued yesterday after the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by crown prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz in the Red Sea city of Jeddah said.
In an interview published Saturday by the Egyptian daily al-Ahram, Bush cast doubt on the statehood target set out in an 11-month-old peace roadmap drafted by the european Union, Russia and the United Nations as well as the United States.
"I think the timetable of 2005 isn't as realistic as it was two years ago," he said.
The Saudi cabinet said the remarks back up "unilateral decisions which undermine the credibility of international ... resolutions."
The cabinet "expressed the hope that such remarks will not derail the roadmap, chiefly the timetable for an Israeli withdrawal (from the Palestinian territories)," said the Saudi statement, cited by the spa news agency.
Bureau Report