Saudi Arabia condemned Monday shootings in which a gunman in France killed seven people in attacks on soldiers and a school. “The Council of Ministers expressed the Kingdom's strong condemnation of the criminal act executed by a terrorist in the cities of Toulouse and Montauban,” said Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information. The Cabinet meeting, presided over by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, stressed the “Kingdom's position which rejects terrorism and all acts of violence that kill innocent people, and offered its condolences to the government and the friendly people of France.” Mohammed Merah, 23, who said he had links to Al-Qaeda before being killed Thursday in an exchange of gunfire with police at his apartment in Toulouse, southwest France, claimed responsibility for the murder spree. He shot dead three French soldiers, three schoolchildren and a trainee rabbi in three attacks. The Cabinet also lauded the Human Rights Council's condemnation of Israeli policies targeting Palestinians. It also praised the endorsement of a resolution acknowledging the right of self-determination of the Palestinians and its appeal to the UN member states to support the Palestinian people to establish their independent state. The Cabinet also commended the council for its decision to send an international fact-finding committee to probe the implications of the Israeli settlements on the Palestinians' civil, socioeconomic and cultural rights. The Cabinet thanked the Turkish government for abolishing dumping fees on the Kingdom's petrochemical exports. It reflects the depth of bilateral relations between the two countries, it said. On domestic issues, the Cabinet approved an MoU between the Ministry of Interior in the Kingdom and the Unit of Financial Investigation in Holland on the exchange of investigations pertaining to money laundering and financing of terrorism signed on Feb 21, 2011. It also approved an agreement between the Kingdom and Romania on avoiding dual taxation and tax evasion in addition to an MoU for technical cooperation between the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and Jordan in geology and mining fields.
