Saudis Ban Major Egypt Paper After Criticism of Arabs
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CAIRO — Saudi Arabia banned the sale of Egypt’s government-owned newspaper, Al Ahram, after a series of articles criticized Arabs for relying too heavily on the United States for defense, the newspaper and Saudi sources said Sunday.
The sources, reached by telephone from Bahrain, cited a series by Al Ahram’s board chairman, Ibrahim Nafeh, as the reason for the ban, effective April 30. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the series, which appeared last month, Nafeh accused Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Arab states of failing to use Egyptian and other Arab assets for collective defense.
Most Arab countries severed formal diplomatic ties with Egypt after its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
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