Sheikh Hamad: State terrorism more dangerous than terror by an individual

"Security in the Middle East cannot be confined to a single country but is a condition that is enjoyed by all the people or by no one, said Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain," Gulf News reported today.

The king criticised the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell "for meeting the besieged Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and leaving him confined in his office without any solution."

"It is blatant injustice to accuse a whole people of terrorism, particularly after they had suffered from dispersion for more than 50 years. This unfair and unjust discrimination is the source of desperation and use of violence. It also offers some countries the wrong excuse to acquire weapons of mass destruction," noted the Bahraini monarch, Gulf News reported from a TV interview the king conducted yesterday.

"State terrorism was more dangerous than terror carried out by an individual," the king said.