JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA

US Vice President Dick Cheney took his Mideast tour to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates yesterday but found no support for new US strikes on Iraq while hearing protests about Israel's continuing attacks on Palestinians.

Cheney held talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, in Jeddah. Sources close to the talks said Riyadh refused to allow the use of its bases by US forces to attack Iraq.

The official Saudi Press Agency said the talks between King Fahd and Cheney focused on Israel's military operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They also reviewed the latest developments on the international scene and in the Middle East, most importantly the Palestinian issue.

King Fahd deplored the acts of extermination, killing and destruction committed by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians. The king and the vice president also discussed ways of boosting cooperation between their two friendly countries.

Later, Cheney held a separate meeting with Prince Abdullah and discussed the crown prince's Middle East peace initiative. The peace plan proposes full Arab diplomatic relations with Israel, in return for the Jewish state's withdrawal from all Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

The sources said Cheney was told "Saudi Arabia will not allow the United States to use its territory to hit Iraq because this would constitute a catastrophe for the region in general and a threat to the security and stability of the area."

The Saudi leadership also told Cheney that the US administration should "substitute this (intended strike) by international efforts that would be conducive to forcing Iraq to implement the resolutions of international legitimacy."

Cheney arrived from Abu Dhabi where UAE President Sheikh Zayed "made it known to the American vice president that the Emirates are opposed to any military strike against Iraq," the official WAM news agency said.

"There is a need to act with restraint in the interests of America, the region and the world," Sheikh Zayed said, according to his Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan ibn Zayed, quoted by WAM.
"Unarmed Palestinians should not be put on an equal footing with those who bombard them with planes and tanks," Hamdan quoted his president as saying.

Crown Prince Abdullah revealed his strong opposition to US threats to extend the "war on terror" to Iraq in an interview Thursday.

"I do not believe it is in the interest of the United States, or the interests of the region, or the world," he told ABC. "I do not expect (a strike) to lead to the required result, and the same applies to Iran," he added.

Speaking to the CNN television on Friday, Prince Abdullah said that the United States would not be able to topple Saddam Hussein from power.