President Saleh to Al-Jazeerah ” I will Visit Saudi Arabia for Border Talks” [Archives:2000/22/Front Page]
May 29 2000
President Saleh started by congratulating the Lebanese government and people on the occasion of liberating their land from Israeli occupation. “It is a delight for me to congratulate you all, in my name and on behalf of the Yemeni people on this occasion” he said in the interview.
When asked about Yemeni-Saudi relations, President Saleh explained that he held fruitful talks with Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during his visit to Sanaa, in which he discussed several issues of major concern, on how to overcome the border issue in a peaceful and practical manner.
In a surprise statement, President Saleh declared that he would be paying Saudi Arabia a visit soon to hold vital discussions about the long-running border dispute between the two countries, and that he was optimistic to arrive at a permanent and justified solution to the problem.
In response to a questions about court cases raised against newspapers, resulting in some cases to their closure or suspension, president Saleh said that even though the government tolerates most of the critical articles that target corruption, security, and other social and political issues, but it never tolerates articles that harm the national interest.
He stressed on the importance to stop any writer or article that are against national unity and issues of national uncompromising values. In such cases, he emphasized the necessity to react swiftly and punish whoever violates these terms using the law of publication and press.
In regards to a question about whether the strong and huge military parade is a message to any local or regional identity, he explained that such parades happen everywhere, and there is no intention to threaten or send a message to anyone by doing so.
In one of the most important questions of the interview about Israeli visits to Yemen, President Saleh confirmed the cancellation of future Israeli visits to Yemen accusing Israel of trying to split the Arab world.
After the arrival of the 12 Israelis to Yemen a few months ago, several strong responses locally and internationally were raised against the visits. Officially, two groups of Israeli Jews had been confirmed to have visited Yemen with documents issued by Yemeni Embassies abroad. On the other hand, local tour agencies reported the arrival of five groups.
The cancellation of these visits is seen by some analysts as a victory of the opposition’s demands of stopping these visits, which was then said to be ” driven by US power. But the government for more than once, said it would not normalize ties with Israel before a full Middle East peace agreement.
“We will not accept Israeli tourism whatever the situation,” Saleh told Al-Jazeera but stressed that the original intention was to allow these originally Yemeni Jews to visit their homeland, which they left after 1948. But he did ensure that Yemen would support any effort towards a lasting and comprehensive peace with Israel that grants the rights of Palestinians to have their own state.
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