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A Saudi Arabia prince who was also the country’s former intelligence chief slammed both Hamas and Israel saying that there are “no heroes in this conflict, only victims”. Turki Al Faisal’s speech at US’ Rice University in Houston in which he cited the example of India’s Independence movement was shared widely on social media. The prince said that all occupied people have a right to resist their occupation, even militarily. Turki Al Faisal led the Saudi intelligence agency Al Mukhabarat Al ‘Ammah for 24 years and also served as the country’s ambassador to London and the US.
“I do not support the military option in Palestine. I prefer the other option: civil insurrection and disobedience. It brought down the British empire in India and the Soviet empire in eastern Europe,” he said. The prince’s speech, unusually frank for a senior member of the Saudi royal family, was widely acknowledged as the clearest indicator yet of the Saudi Arabia leadership’s thinking on the situation.
Hamas’ acts went against Islamic injunctions not to harm civilians, he said. The ex-diplomat and spy chief also accused Israel of “indiscriminate bombing of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza” and the “indiscriminate arrest of Palestinian children, women and men in the West Bank”.
He took issue with the US media’s use of the phrase “unprovoked attack” saying, “What more provocation is required.. than what Israel has done to the Palestinian people for three-quarters of a century?”
“All militarily occupied people have a right to resist occupation”, he said condemning Western politicians for “shedding tears when Israelis are killed by Palestinians”, but refusing to “even express sorrow when Israelis kill Palestinians”.
When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, “What is the purpose of journalism in society?”