To Mr. Yasser
Hamad Ibrahim AL-Talasi
500483

writting

King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz




As monarch, King Fahd’s first concern has had to be the security and stability of the country. This is the primary responsibility of any Head of Government but, in the case of Saudi Arabia, the responsibility is of paramount importance since the Kingdom is home to the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah and their guardianship is an integral part of the monarch’s responsibility.
Achieving security and stability has not always been entirely straightforward. The demands of modernization have inevitably created tensions from time to time in a conservative society. Striking the balance between those who wish to modernize as quickly as possible and those who are concerned that modernization could threaten the unique character of the Kingdom has demanded a high degree of skill. In exercising this skill, King Fahd has been helped by the tradition of consultation which permeates Saudi society. There have always been channels for every party to express their views. That has not necessarily helped King Fahd to find solutions but it has made him and his Government aware of any problems and sensitive to the balance of opinion on any issue.

In every act of diplomacy, King Fahd has sought to negotiate peace with justice. In the Iraq/Iran war, in Lebanon, in the Gulf war, in Bosnia and, above all, in Palestine, King Fahd has used his good offices to try to find just solutions to intractable problems. Even in the most vexed of issues, border disputes, the Kingdom, under King Fahd, has tried to resolve argument by international arbitration rather than force. The agreement with Yemen on the delineation of the Saudi/Yemen border is a model of the civilized way to resolve such matters.

At the same time, King Fahd has never been an advocate of peace at any price. When circumstances have necessitated it, King Fahd has always been prepared to place his authority behind a just cause and devote whatever resources are required to support it. Saudi troops led the way into Kuwait against the Iraqi invasion force and, whenever the Palestinians have needed help, the Kingdom has been unstinting in the humanitarian aid it has supplied.

It is difficult to find a corner of the world where Saudi Arabia, under King Fahd, has not made a contribution, either in humanitarian aid (which flows forth as soon as a need is recognized) or in promulgating Islam by building Mosques and Islamic centers and by distributing copies of the Holy Quran.

At home, King Fahd’s achievements speak for themselves. Those visitors to the Kingdom who have known the country throughout King Fahd’s reign will attest to the extraordinary development of the Kingdom’s infrastructure, education, health services, agriculture and industry over the last twenty-five years. But King Fahd’s legacy at home is not the buildings, the roads, the ports and airports; it is the people who, through education and social services, have been transformed from simple, generally illiterate, tribesmen or traders into literate individuals capable of holding their own and competing in the modern world.
Of course the foundations for much of this achievement were laid down by King Fahd’s predecessors but the drive and determination to make what seemed impossible happen over the last twenty-five years belonged to King Fahd.