Mideast - AFP
Saudi Arabia slams US sanctions on Syria, calls for Israel to be penalized
Date: Mon, May 17, 2004
RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia said that US sanctions newly slapped on Syria would heighten tension in the region and demanded that punitive measures be imposed on Israel instead.
"The United States' decision to impose sanctions on Syria will only complicate the situation in the Middle East ... heightening tension and deepening the Arab people's feeling that they are wronged," said a statement issued after the weekly cabinet meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
This is all the more so because "Israel is pursuing its attacks on the defenseless Palestinian people and its violations of international norms and laws, which makes it incumbent to impose sanctions" on the Jewish state, said the statement, cited by the state SPA news agency.
The Saudi cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, slammed the US move one day after Saudi Arabia and its five partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council called at a summit in Jeddah for Washington to rethink the sanctions and pursue "constructive dialogue" to settle any row with Damascus.
Washington announced last week that it had imposed new sanctions on Syria on grounds that it supported terrorism and failed to close its borders to insurgents looking to fight US forces in Iraq (news - web sites).
The sanctions, which come on top of existing US penalties, include a near-blanket ban on US exports to Syria and the power to freeze Syrian assets in the United States.
SOURCE
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