Saudi abuse of Palestine is a stigma, claims journalist

A well-known journalist said on Friday that Saudi Arabia’s “abuse” of the Palestinian cause is a “stigma” that harms the Saudis themselves, Shehab news agency has reported. Jamal Khashoggi criticised members of the Saudi elite who have attacked the Palestinian cause and people.

The writer is a Saudi citizen who now lives in exile. He described his country as one which is doing deliberate harm to itself by attacking the Palestinians. “It is the worst of campaigns for the Kingdom,” he explained.

“If I announced that I had conceded the Palestine cause,” Khashoggi wrote on Twitter, “this would have no value. It would only be a stigma that would accompany my name forever. The one who has the word about Palestine is the Palestinian who will never give up.”

Read: Historical document reveals possible collusion with Israeli occupation pre-Six Day War

A large number of Saudi writers, poets, journalists and scholars have attacked Palestine and the Palestinian cause in an attempt, according to commentators, to pave the way for Saudi normalisation of relations with Israel. Such Saudis claim that, “Riyadh is more important than Jerusalem.”