At a time when Saudi religious propagators have been barred from traveling to certain Western countries, the democratic U.S. Senator Joseph Liebermann has accused Riyadh of providing financial support to Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups, and called for the funding to be stopped. In his August 4 interview with Fox News Network Liebermann said, "Saudi Arabia is a major source of financial support for Hamas and this channel has to be cut off."

The refusal by Belgium, Spain, and some other European countries to grant visas to Saudi preachers who annually travel to these countries in the summer has aroused the ire of the Saudi government. These two developments can be construed as telltale signs of an erosion in the relations between Saudi Arabia and the West.

The Saudis have been staunch allies of the West for some sixty years and the U.S. and its European allies consider the Muslim country to be of vital importance to their economic interests. Saudi Arabia as a cheap and ready source of energy, and a major purchaser of Western arms has turned into a lucrative market for the U.S. and Europe.

Saudi Arabia has, in return, enjoyed a period of peace and stability, thanks to the political and military support accorded to it by the U.S. and its European partners.

The events of September 11 and the consequent aggressive posture assumed by Washington against the Muslims, and especially the citizens of Persian Gulf countries, have caused a rift between Washington and Riyadh. The latter's efforts at using Europe as a countervailing force against the U.S. have been undermined by the behind-the-scenes measures of the Zionist lobby.

According to some political observers, this can lead to a crisis of confidence in the relations between the West and the Arab kingdom, and one that will have widespread ramifications. Although such a dire state of affairs does not seem to be an imminent possibility, the current developments do imply that the Arab state has to reconsider some of its strategic ties with the West.

The obstacle facing the U.S. and its European allies at the moment is the absence of a global consensus on the new U.S. policies regarding Muslim countries, and the ambivalence of such rivals as Russia, Japan, and China about their role in the Middle East. This issue has prompted the Saudis to move toward a more multifaceted foreign policy and a reexamination of their regional and international positions.