Faisal, Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, says that countries in the Middle East have three choices in dealing with the threat of a buildup of nuclear weapons in the region. Prince Turki made these comments Friday at the Arab Economic Forum held in Beirut. He was speaking in reference to Israel's possession of nuclear weapons and Iran's move to develop these weapons. The first choice is that nothing is done and countries continue to be at the mercy of those who have weapons, said Prince Turki. The second choice is that everyone starts to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. “In this case we should bear the consequences of the inevitable confrontation with both the West and East.” Prince Turki added, however, that if the five superpowers differ over how to deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons ambitions, they “will never differ about us”. He said that no-one should be surprised to see an immediate condemnation by the United Nations' Security Council if any other countries decided to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. “Not only this, they will definitely go beyond this and threaten us.” The third option is to call for a ban on all nuclear weapons in the region. He said that while the five superpowers, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, have announced their support for making the region free of weapons of mass destruction, the United States' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been quoted saying that she does not see how this declaration can be implemented. To succeed in efforts to rid the region of the nuclear threat he called for full coordination among all Arab countries without exception and for all countries to “bear the consequences of our actions. We should fully understand that all this has political, economic and even military consequences”. Prince Turki also commented on the current relationship between Israel and the US, which he described as “real tension”. He said “our voices have become hoarse” telling the US since 1945 that their relationship with Israel “threatens their interests with us”. Meanwhile, he also urged Arab countries to give due attention to develop a common market as is the case with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. “We should take into consideration that there are some people who whisper in our ears, trying to make us believe this project is impossible. We say to these people there are now vivid examples, such as the European Union, Asean and the GCC. It should be understood that the Kingdom's financial and economic weight qualifies it to be the center and dynamo of the Arab common market because its Gross National Product (GNP) represents more than 25 percent of the total GNP of all the Arab countries.” The Arab Economic Forum, on its second day Friday, has so far held eight sessions centered on financial policies to support the Arab economy in the wake of the global financial crisis. The sessions, which were attended by 55 officials and economists, discussed prospects of stability and risks in the Middle East, reform of the global banking system and its implications on the Arab world, and the characteristics of the economy after the global financial crisis.
