The Cabinet condemned on Monday “all forms of terrorism regardless of source and location” and voiced its repulsion at bombings in Iraq which, it said, resulted in “death and injury to innocent people”. Cabinet members, however, reiterated their hopes that the Iraqi government would “succeed in its efforts to bring about security and stability in the country”. Chairing the weekly session, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, briefed the Cabinet on recent talks with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a message from Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait. In a statement to the SPA following the meeting, the Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said that the Cabinet was briefed on the region and international developments. The Cabinet, Khoja said, had been following particularly closely developments in the Arab world, notably in occupied Palestine and Israeli threats against the Palestinian people, Syria and Lebanon. “The Cabinet has appealed to the international community to take a firm stand against Israeli atrocities and to halt inhumane Israeli acts against the Palestinian people,” Khoja said. “The Cabinet also condemned random Israeli detentions and encroachments on Islamic holy sites, and plots aimed at Judaizing Holy Al-Quds.” In other business, the Cabinet authorized Prince Naif, Second Deputy Premier and Interior Minister or his deputy to discuss with the Philippines a draft prisoner extradition agreement, and approved the amendment of articles 5 and 12 of the Establishment of the International Monetary Fund approved by the Kingdom on July 16, 1957.
