Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland and ambassador-designate to the US, has said terror acts perpetrated by the Al-Qa'eda have changed the perspective of the world, and will continue to remain the contributing factor in establishing international relations.
In an address at the Society of the Philosophical, Political and Economic Studies at Oxford University, Prince Turki pointed out that the unbalanced treatment of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute had contributed to damaging the western-Islamic relations.
"Despite various initiatives extended by the international allies and the Arab world, peace has not yet been realized", he said.
He noted that the disputes have provided the terrorists with some justification to carry out their destructive activities. "But, such international problems could never justify terrorism."
As regards the Al-Qa'eda, Prince Turki said: "It is neither a religious nor a political organization, and it is not based on the principles of Islam. It is based on the ideology of an individual-worshipping group which exploits the sufferings of others for realizing its own goals.
"Such groups claim that if the problems of Palestine and Iraq are solved, then they will become satisfied and happy, but that is not the truth," he elaborated.
"It is true that the solutions of these problems will have an effect on the way they recruit their fighters, but it will be very naïve if we believe that they will stop the terrorist acts when these problems are resolved," he said.
Prince Turki underscored the importance of unifying ranks, and said: "The Al-Qa'eda is working to create a wedge between people and religions."
"Moreover, fighting terrorism should be done simultaneously at local and international arenas," he noted.
Condemning some extremist Isalmists who exploited the freedom of the British society to spread ideas of hatred, Prince Turki said: "The governments, notably the western governments should never shelter people with extreme ideologies, and they should never think that these extremists are victims, but in fact, they should consider them as aggressors."
