Dr. Saud Al-Kateb, Former Saudi Deputy Minister For Public Diplomacy: Saudi Arabia Is Our #1, #2, #10 Cause; The Palestinian Cause Comes Later; Palestinians Must Stop Viewing KSA As A Mere Faucet Streaming Support For Them

Dr. Saud Al-Kateb, former deputy minister for Public Diplomacy in the Saudi Ministry for Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Diwan Al-Mullah Online TV (Kuwait) on September 17, 2020 that Saudi Arabia must first look out for its own interests and only then consider the Palestinians cause. He recounted how he would donate his pocket money to the Palestinian cause as a child. Dr. Al-Kateb said that he does not expect the Palestinians to be grateful for all the Saudis have done for them, but he does expect them not to curse them. He said that the Palestinians have made "catastrophic mistakes" in the past towards countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. He added that the Palestinians must stop treating Saudi Arabia as nothing more than a faucet streaming support to them.

Dr. Saud Al-Kateb: "The Palestinians have lost a significant part of the popular sympathy with their cause. Since we were kids... I remember when I was at primary school, [I was told to] 'donate a riyal to save the life of an Arab.' I would donate my spending money and my lunch money in a little box for the sake of Palestine. Our mothers and our fathers used to donate their gold. Our leaders have done the impossible for the sake of the Palestinian cause. It is true that we were only fulfilling our duty, but we expect at least... We do not expect them to thank us, but we also do not expect them to curse us.

"The wrongful behavior of the Palestinian leaders is not just what we are seeing today. Unfortunately, they have made catastrophic mistakes throughout their history. They wronged Kuwait during the [Iraqi] invasion. Everybody is familiar with their hideous mistakes towards Egypt and Jordan. They made mistakes in Lebanon. Their behavior was wrongful towards all countries. Even Saudi Arabia was not spared their mistakes. We have tolerated this for a long time, but I think the only criterion today is the interest of Saudi Arabia.

"Bahrain's Interior Minister said something important a few days ago. He said that it is true that the Palestinian cause is the cause of the Arabs, but for Bahrainis, Bahrain is the number one cause. The same is true for Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is our number one cause. It is also our number two cause and our number ten cause. Then comes the Palestinian cause. The Palestinians need to fathom this fact, and cease viewing us as a faucet that streams support for them – support for which we are rewarded with curses. Recently, we encountered this ingratitude even on the part of Mahmoud Abbas."