It seems an almost incontrovertible rule of geopolitical machinations: at some point, up will always seem like down and yesterday's despot is today's voice of reason. Such is the case with the typically odious Moammar Khadaffi. Yesterday, Kahdaffi suggested that the Saudi government end its religious apartheid over the city of Mecca.
Mecca is the holiest city in Islam, and only Muslims are allowed entry by the Saudi government. No other city in the Middle East, and possibly the world, practices such open religious discrimination.
As the traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca is upon us, Khadaffi has taken the opportunity to call on the Saudis to end such discrimination. Saudi Arabia should "allow Jews and Christians to visit Mecca and circle the Kaaba [cubical building surrounded by the Sacred Mosque]." (Yediot). More after the flip.
(Highway sign leading into Mecca)
In the up is down, somewhat "bizarro" world of the Middle East, Khadaffi is also the leader supporting a sham court decision sentencing five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death for supposedly infecting some 400 children with HIV. Maybe this is him throwing a bone to the Western audiences that condemn such an audacious decision, maybe this is part of an overall shift, or maybe it's just the broken clock being right twice a day.
Either way, Khadaffi is right. Saudi Arabia is pretty blatant about their discrimination. One can only imagine that if they made a good faith effort to rectify their own situation, they might prove to be a peacemaker in the Middle East.