RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 28 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Wednesday blamed all Arab leaders for the civil strife and divisions plaguing the Arab world.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day Arab summit in Riyadh, the monarch said he did not want to blame the 22-member Arab League for the divisions in the region. "The real blame falls on us, the leaders of the nation, because our constant differences all these years and our refusal to be united has made the nation lose confidence in us."
He outlined the turbulence in the region by referring to sectarian strife in Iraq -- calling the U.S. occupation "illegitimate" -- the civil war in Somalia, the political crisis in Lebanon and the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Abdullah told the leaders the first step "for salvation is to regain self-confidence and trust each other; therefore, credibility is regained and the winds of hope will blow through the nation where we would not allow the outside forces to draw the future of the region and the only flag to be raised on Arab lands would be Arab."
