World News

Occupation
‘worse than Nazis’

By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic
Editor

THE Saudi envoy to
London was embroiled in a diplomatic row yesterday after describing the
Israeli occupation of Palestinian land as worse than the Nazi occupation of
Europe.

Ghazi Algosaibi, who caused outrage this year when he wrote a poem dedicated to a Palestinian teenage girl suicide bomber, said: “This is a war of occupation, far more severe than anything the Germans did when they occupied Europe in World War Two.”

The veteran diplomat told a meeting of the Arab Research Centre in London that the spate of suicide attacks against Israeli civilian targets was simply a form of defence by
Palestinians who had no other means to fight.

Last night a Foreign Office spokesman described the remarks as
“wrong and insensitive”.

Copyright
2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.