Saudi Arabia’s emergence as a neutral venue for dialogue to resolve long-festering conflicts in Europe and West Asia is not sudden and is based on a tradition of helping partner countries caught in conflicts, said leading Saudi editors and commentators on Thursday (February 20, 2025).
Addressing the Saudi Media Forum, a media conclave which is taking place parallel to the peace initiatives in Riyadh, the commentators said Saudi Arabia’s role in the U.S.-Russia dialogue as well as the mini-Arab summit for the Gaza crisis planned for this weekend is based on preserving Arab self-interest as well as stability for the region.
“When the displaced Syrians took refuge in certain countries after 2011, they had many restrictions on them. But the Syrians who sought refuge in Saudi Arabia did not have to live like refugees and they had the permission to work and live wherever they wanted to. It was this spirit that led to the formation of the King Salman Humanitarian and Relief Center which has become one of the largest relief organizations in the world,” said Jasser Al-Jasser, historian and commentator on Saudi diplomacy..
“King Salman Humanitarian and Relief Center has become as big as Doctors Without Frontiers in its scope,” said Mr Al-Jasser pointing out that Saudi Arabia has been quietly investing in increasing its soft power over the years.
In the recent past, Saudi Arabia had given refuge to the late President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali who was overthrown in the Arab Spring uprising in Tunisia in 2011. That apart, even the late Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan also received refuge in Saudi Arabia during their years in exile.
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Jamil Al-Dhiyabi, Editor-in-Chief of Okaz newspaper reminded the audience in the Saudi Media Forum that keeping its deep relation with several friendly countries in view, Saudi Arabia has utilized its scholarship programmes to build relationship and ties over the decades. “Our policy is to open dialogue windows for partner countries to the best of our abilities,” said Mr Al-Dhiyabi.
Senior journalist and commentator Mishary Al-Dhaidi echoed the position and recollected that after Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein sent troops into Kuwait, Saudi Arabia opened its borders for Kuwaiti guests including the ruling family of Kuwait. The remarks from the leading commentators in the kingdom sums up the position of the Saudi ruling family which is being shaped by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman who hosted both U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week and is gearing up to host the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Egypt and Jordan for the mini-Arab summit on 21 February on the Gaza situation.
Saudi Arabia was the first country to oppose the formula for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population of Gaza after President Trump favoured a peace formula that included transfer of population from Gaza to other Arab countries.
Mr Al-Jasser pointed out that Saudi Arabia has no conflict with Israel and therefore the talks of normalization of relation with Tel Aviv does not arise. “We are steadfast on the position that Palestine from the beginning of this crisis has been an Arab Muslim country. On the other hand we have no conflict with Israel and as declared by the Crown Prince before the Shura Council, we are committed to a two-state solution to end the Israel-Palestine crisis,” said Mr. Al-Jasser.
Saudi role in back-to-back peace initiatives for two of the most destructive wars of the twenty-first century has amplified the talk that Prince Mohammed Bin Salman will very soon host President Donald Trump of the U.S. and Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit to end the war in Ukraine.
Published – February 21, 2025 08:52 am IST
