In a recent address at the prestigious Baker Institute in the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia articulated his concerns regarding the ongoing violence in the Middle East. Drawing parallels with historical resistance movements, particularly India’s struggle against British colonization and Eastern Europe’s defiance of Soviet rule, the Saudi prince condemned both Hamas and Israel for their actions, asserting the primacy of peaceful resistance over military approaches.
Prince Turki al-Faisal asserted, “All individuals living under military occupation possess the inherent right to resist such occupation, and this resistance need not be militant in nature. My preference lies with civil insurrection and civil disobedience, strategies that successfully dismantled the British Empire’s dominance in India and the Soviet presence in Eastern Europe. In the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there are no champions, only victims.”
A distinguished former senior government official of Saudi Arabia and a former head of the Kingdom’s intelligence unit, Prince Turki al-Faisal conveyed his profound disapproval of Hamas’s targeting of innocent civilians. He underscored the Islamic prohibition against harming innocent civilians, regardless of the state of war. Furthermore, he criticized Hamas for providing the Israeli government with a pretext for “ethnically cleansing Gaza of its populace and subjecting them to relentless bombardment,” actions that, in his view, undermine Saudi Arabia’s tireless efforts to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The Saudi prince did not mince words in his criticism of Western nations, which have, in his estimation, unfairly perceived the recent Hamas attack as unprovoked. He raised poignant questions regarding the extent of provocation required, given the decades-long oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel. He lamented the targeted killings, civilian detentions, and land seizures conducted by Israeli forces. Additionally, Prince Turki al-Faisal chastised Western politicians for exhibiting empathy when Israelis suffer casualties while remaining conspicuously silent when Palestinians face a similar fate.
Political analysts regard Prince Turki al-Faisal’s address as a discernible reflection of Saudi Arabia’s stance on the ongoing situation. It is an open secret that Saudi Arabia, alongside other regional governments such as Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, perceives Hamas and its brand of “political Islam” as a direct challenge to their respective regimes.
It is important to note that Saudi Arabia was in the process of normalizing relations with Israel when Hamas initiated its offensive. Some experts speculate that Hamas sought to derail this normalization process, which could have marginalized both Hamas and Iran in a reshaped Middle East landscape.
