Saudi Crown Prince Blasts Palestinians

The mostly bluntly critical comments heard yet from Saudi Arabia about the Palestinian leadership was reported on Sunday in the name of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said that the Palestinians should either resume peace talks or “shut up.”

According to Israel’s Channel 10, Salman let loose in a meeting with Jewish leaders last month in New York in a way that “staggered” those present.

“For the past 40 years, the Palestinian leadership has missed opportunities again and again, and rejected all the offers it was given,” the Saudi leader said.

“It’s about time that the Palestinians accept the offers, and agree to come to the negotiating table, or they should shut up and stop complaining,” he reportedly said.

And, he added, “the Palestinian issue is not at the top of the Saudi government’s agenda…There are much more urgent and more important issues to deal with, such as Iran.”

The meeting was said to have taken place at the end of March. The names of those in attendance were not given.

Channel 10 said the report was based on a cable to the Foreign Ministry from an Israeli diplomat in the New York consulate who was briefed on what transpired by some of the participants.