Changing Arab Mood

In past years, the Arab nations had been largely pro-Western, pro-American and anti-Communist. Particularly was this true of the governments of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

However, four wars have been fought in the Middle East since the formation of the State of Israel. In all that time, the United States has supported Israel. But that support has had its effect on the Arab world. In this regard, U.S. News & World Report noted:

“Arabs everywhere are puzzled and dismayed by the U.S. approach to Middle Eastern problems. Why, they ask, does the United States continue to antagonize a people who outnumber the Israelis by 40 to 1​—and who control the oil resources which the U.S. will need over the next decade?”

As a result, Arab regimes in recent years tended to lean more and more away from the United States. Even such formerly staunch pro-American Arab lands as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia experienced a gradual change in attitudes.

In recent years, warnings by Arab nations began to accumulate. They said that if Arab lands held by Israel were not returned there could be repercussions where it would hurt the most​—in the oil supply.

Particularly ominous were the warnings issued by Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal, long a friend of the United States. In 1973, over national television in the United States, he warned that before long he might be forced to change his policy of selling all the oil that the United States, western Europe and Japan needed. It might be used as a political weapon to pressure other nations. And of all Arab nations, the use of oil by Saudi Arabia in this way would hurt the most.

England’s Guardian said on September 15, just before the outbreak of war in the Middle East:

“It requires only one Arab regime, King Faisal’s, to make the oil weapon work. He, on his own, commands the economic means. But until recently, as America’s best friend in the Arab world, he lacked the political will. . . .

“Changing Faisal’s mind has been one of [Egyptian] President Sadat’s few indisputable achievements. . . .

“In April this year, the Saudi oil minister told the Americans that unless they changed their pro-Israel posture in the Middle East Saudi Arabia would not ‘significantly’ raise its output.

“Since then Faisal, not a man given to public criticism of his friends, has delivered more warnings.”

The next move was that the Arab oil-producing countries announced a total cutting off, an embargo, of oil supplies to the United States. One third of the oil imports of the United States during 1973 came from the Middle East, with the needs mounting each year.

The total cutoff of oil to the United States was in addition to the 5-percent and 10-percent decreases in overall production.