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Last update - 11:43 01/05/2009
'U.S. lied about Saudi king's talks with Peres'
By Reuters
Tags: Peres, U.S., Israel News 

Saudi Arabia demanded on Thursday that the U.S. State Department retract a claim that King Abdullah met Israel's president last year, in a rare public rebuke toward the kingdom's veteran ally.

William Burns, undersecretary at the State Department, told a conference on U.S.-Saudi relations in Washington this week that the king spoke with Israel's President Shimon Peres at a United Nations conference on dialogue among world religions in New York in November.

Both Peres and King Abdullah attended the UN interfaith meeting and gave speeches, but in public they were not seen talking to each other.
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"The comments by the State Department undersecretary are absolutely baseless and made up," a statement from an "official source" on the state news agency SPA said.

"The official source demanded that the State Department retract the news and offer an explanation and clarification of the reasons behind this falsehood that does not serve relations between the two friendly countries."

There are no diplomatic ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which is the main backer of an Arab proposal for an Arab-Israeli peace deal that would see all Arab states establish formal relations if Israel returns lands taken in 1967.

Riyadh has resisted U.S. pressure to establish public channels with Israel before any final peace, but there have been numerous reports in recent years of secret meetings between senior members of the Saudi royal family and Israeli officials.

Riyadh has denied the reports, which could damage its credibility among many Arabs and Muslims who say Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites, is too close to Washington.

Islamist network al-Qaida launched a campaign to topple the Saudi rulers in 2003 and Riyadh fears militants could use its poor southern neighbor Yemen to revive the insurgency.

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      1.   Let me see if I have this correct... The Saudi Arabian government 20:36  |  Jacob Blues 30/04/09
      2.   Why such mixed signals? 21:06  |  Issa 30/04/09
      3.   The Saudis have made That Clear, Jacob Blues 21:07  |  Yaakov Sullivan 30/04/09
      4.   The US and subservience 21:19  |  Christopher 30/04/09
      5.   A.Shavit was wrong,fall ofUS preceeded Iranian nukes,not followed 21:50  |  Absolute Sweden 30/04/09
      6.   Very revealing about Saudi/Arab mentality. 21:56  |  common sense 30/04/09
      7.   The Fact is 22:08  |  Abdulaziz 30/04/09
      8.   we never met, nor would we meet the hated Jews 22:20  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 30/04/09
      9.   This would create opposite appearance 22:42  |  Jeff 30/04/09
      10.   Who Cares? 22:43  |  Bill Foonman 30/04/09
      11.   its all a mirage the hot desert winds and islam and 22:46  |  vhardman 30/04/09
      12.   We all know that they spoke...they are just afraid 22:48  |  Observer 30/04/09
      13.   #7, Abdulaziz from SA 22:49  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 30/04/09
      14.   #1.Jacob Blues /No, you do not have it "correct" 22:54  |  Zaynab 30/04/09
      15.   # 17 23:38  |  ernie 30/04/09
      16.   to zaynab 23:40  |  terner 30/04/09
      17.   To cure his impotence the Saudi King turned to Israeli doctors 23:47  |  Absolute Sweden 30/04/09
      18.   Abdullah and Shimon are a pair of alter kockers 01:40  |  Boris 01/05/09
      19.   Saudi Arabia 02:11  |  Brod 01/05/09
      20.   Saud no like shia bomb , influence , instigation ,expansion 02:18  |  Joseph.E 01/05/09
      21.   Real Peace 02:37  |  utagawa 01/05/09
      22.   Saudis and the State Dept. 03:13  |  Lynn 01/05/09
      23.   # 3 Yaakov....Saudi Plan? 03:14  |  Lynn 01/05/09
      24.   Sullivan: "The saudis have made it clear" 03:55  |  Christopher 01/05/09
      25.   Peres should not talk to unclean king of perverted kingdom 04:11  |  17 01/05/09
      26.   A very successful "interfaith meeting" ! 04:12  |  Akram Zekaria 01/05/09
      27.   14~ Zayab "Peres is not a Rabii " . 04:23  |  Akram Zekaria 01/05/09
      28.   To "Yaakov" Sullivan (# 3). Hate rules. 04:38  |  flyingdoc57 01/05/09
      29.   22~ Lynn "What happened to the road map" ? 05:28  |  Akram Zekaria 01/05/09
      30.   You`d think they be more upset about beheadings and amputations 05:42  |  J Donald 01/05/09
      31.   TO Yaakov Sullivan 06:28  |  J Donald 01/05/09
      32.   #30 J. Donald What you forgot to mention... 08:14  |  Avshalom Beni 01/05/09
      33.   Peres always the "indefatigable saboteur" 10:44  |  Baruch Gold 01/05/09
      34.   #16 Terner/ Adballah heads a theocracy, Peres`s country is not 11:17  |  Zaynab 01/05/09
      35.   The Saudis are not the "bad guys." 11:49  |  a wandering Jew 01/05/09
      36.   Back door diplomacy in the ME. 13:39  |  Stephen. 01/05/09
      37.   THE MEETING OCCURRED 13:53  |  indrajaya 01/05/09
      38.   #3 Turncoat Sullivan 14:33  |  *BEN JABO 01/05/09
      39.   #7 Abdul Aziz - Actual fact is 14:35  |  *BEN JABO 01/05/09
      40.   Ben Jabber`s Ravings - Non Sequitirs And Irrelevancies 19:22  |  chet 01/05/09
      41.   J Donald and His Charges 19:35  |  Yaakov Sullivan 01/05/09
      42.   Saudi uniquely have the status to broker a peace deal. 20:00  |  Stephen L 01/05/09
      43.   Yaakov Sullivan 23:44  |  Aby 01/05/09
      44.   #40 Chet`s meaningless ChitChat 00:27  |  *BEN JABO 02/05/09
      45.   TO NORMALISE FIRST ACCEPT 08:46  |  DAOUD KUTTAB 03/05/09
      46.   #42 stephenl in line for the $1000 prize for the saudi 08:47  |  v hardman 03/05/09
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