Zionism, Saudi Faisal and Rockefeller

 

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le  as   t •  27 5 Emissary/or   Btiknt'e in  t he M i d d le

from   his religious role within Islam. H is formal  title w as Custodian  of the Tw o  Holy Mosques, Mosques, and and strictly observed all  al l the  the and he was a devout Muslim  and

dictates of his religion. The The al-Sauds  regarded their country  as a  family  economic enterprise, an d  Fa  Faisal's isal's principal duty d uty was  was managing the large and and fractious roya royall f a mloyal andd satisfied, Faisal distributed  distributed  the  first 2 0 percent  percent o  off ily.  T o keep them loyal an o il  revenues among the among the six  six hundred or hundred or so  so members of members of his family before making in g   the  remainder available  to the  government. There  was more  than  oil selling enough to go around. In 1969, with oil  selling at $2  $2 a barrel, Faisal Faisal had almo st a billion dollars  a year to distribute among his relatives, a  an n  amount that would rise to almost $2  $24 4 billion by the early 1980s. Even this was not enough  to maintain  family  peace; Faisal was assassinated by a  deranged nephew in 1975. Faisal greeted  greeted  m e warmly when  when  I arrived.  arrived.   W e exchanged  gifts,  and he reminisced about the lunch I had given him at Pocan Pocantico tico in 1966 at the tim time e of   his his state visit to the United States. I told him I was interested  in hearing his  views about t  the he current situation in the region an  and d that I would report them directly to Presid  President ent Nixon upon m  my y return to the United States. Faisal wa  wass even more emphatic than Nasser about the disastrous consequences  o f U.S. Middle Eastern policy. His Hi s opinions were inflexible  and his language unrestrained,  and his dark, piercing eyes seemed to bore  right through me. My notes from that meeting read, in part: Faisal  feels o ur policy in the Middle East is dictated b y U.S. Zionists a nd is  entirely pro-Israe pro-Israel. l. It   It is drivin  driving g more a  ann d more of the  Arab nations away  from us. He is convi  convinced nced tha thatt it is this policy which has given the Soviets a Soviets  a growing  growing foo thold thold in the  the Middle East. East. He  He feels w e have actu encouraged ged radical elements in countries to overthrow more conally  encoura servative regimes.. ..  .. Faisal  is convinced  the the U.S. is  steadily losing  influence in  in the  Middle East.  East.   Ou r only friends  now are friends   an d influence Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon. Tunisia, an d Morocco. If  the wa r  with Israel persists, we  we will  will soon soon have none at all.  all. 

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 35

Faisal's views on views on Israel  Israel were, frankly, bizarre:  bizarre:  ] Faisal  believes that  all the  troubles  in the  Middle East stem  from  Zionism   and an d  Israel.  H e says  most  of the  Jews  in  Israel come  from Russia,  that C o m m u n i ssm m is a product o f Zionism, that  that  the the Israelis  Israelis   ar e a  Godless people, that Israel  is a socialist state which  only  pretends friendship  with t  the he U nited  and d that Israel an  and d the  the So viet nited States, an vietss have

 

 

 

276 •  Memoirs

a  secret understanding whereby  all of the  Arab xvorld  is to  fall  into C o m m u n i s t hands.   • -

 dismiss smissed ed m y attem pt to counter hi s argument. B u t Faisal also said Faisal  di said he had no  desire  desire   to to push  push Israel into th into th e sea. There wa There wa s now an element. element.of of flexibility  in the Saudi ruler's position that h  had ad been missing previously. A s  I left  the meeting.  II reminded Faisal that  I would report  the essence o f o ur  com'ersation to President  to President Nixon. Th  Th e King responded  responded b  b y saying  saying that th at   the th e f o r mer   governor  of  Pennsylvania^  Pennsylvania^ William Scranton.Jiad_rnade_the^arne offer   t o h i m a year;.earlier a year;.earlier an d hadpub l icl y supported y supported  a more even-handed_ U.S._MLddie Eastern policv.   had all but ended  policv.  T he public outcrv. Faisal noted, had Scrantoivspolitical career.  H H e hoped  hoped I  I would  would  no t suffer  the the same  same  fate^   ^ ^ J J * J « J T _ ™

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returned  to New York deeply concerned about what wha t I had  learned.  Both Nasser an  and d  Faisal had been clear and unambiguous. They perceived D.S. policy  as  a s actively hostile in hostile in tone  tone a  and nd substance  substance toward  toward  the the Arabs.  Arabs. They saw They saw Soviet penetration of the area as the  direct conseque consequence nce  o f this policy and beliei'ed its  i ts continuation  continuation might have an have an   adverse effect  on the  the  global flow global flow of oil. On the other the  other hand,  hand, both m  both m en en seemed  seemed willing to willing to compromise  compromise an  an d negotinited States would mo dify ate if the  U nited dify its  i ts unwavering support o f Israel. It  It was this message I felt obligated to convey to President Nixon.  few ew days after m y return  from th e Middle East, I saw Henry Kissinger in A  f Washington  an d  informed  him of the  substance  o f m y  conversations. Henry told me tthe he administration  was well along in the process of reassessing its Middle Ea  East st policy an  and d would announce  a more balanced position in  in th thee  near future  future in  in an  effort  to to bring  bring th  thee Israelis  Israelis to  to the  the  bargaining table.  table. H e thought  it might thought  it might   b e valuable  valuable   fo r President Nixon  Nixon  to hear  m y  assessment firsthand. A  month later I was invited to the White House, but I wa s surprised  to discover  that the  the Oval  Oval Office meeting \vould also include Jack include Jack McCloy, Standard Oil Oi l  chairman  chairman K  K enneth Jam ieson. ieson. Mobil  Mobil chairman Rawleigh Warner, Amoco Amoco chairman   John Swearingeri, and  Robert Anderson,  a former Secretary  oi chairman the  Treasury,  who had  developed extensive and  somewhat controversial  I had hoped had hoped f  f or a private a private meeting  business interests  interests  in the  Middle East,  East, I meeting  to candidly  report what I what I had learned had learned from Faisal  Faisal a  and nd Nasser,  Nasser, b  but ut found myself part of a larger group gro up concerned concerned primarily with oil, which gave the meeting a very different cast from  the one I would have chosen.

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