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The same velvet-gloved approach characterizes his conduct of foreign affairs. In the Arab world, the Saudis are resented by some of their Islamic brethren as nouveau riche desert barbarians. But Fahd is on speaking terms with almost every leader (one notable exception: Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, who refuses to deal with him). On the theory that Saudi Arabia's first line of defense is diplomatic, he avoids quarrels even with Arab radicals, preferring to build as broad a range of contacts as he can. In the interests of preserving Arab unity, he has mediated between leftist Algeria and royalist Morocco in the Sahara dispute. He maintains ties with Egypt's Sadat and Syria's Hafez Assad, with the Palestine Liberation Organization's Yasser Arafat and with Lebanese Christian Leader Camille Chamoun. Saudi Arabia has had problems with radical Iraq and Marxist South Yemen, but he keeps in touch with leaders of both states.
This policy sometimes puzzles Westerners and causes Israelis to point to Saudi support of the P.L.O. as evidence of Riyadh's untrustworthiness. "The Saudis donate their money to some of the most fanatical terror groups." charges a high-ranking Israeli general. "They speak in 300 languages and with as many tongues as there are crown princes. There is no one solid Saudi voice." Fahd's argument is that by supplying Arafat's Fatah with some $40 million a year in aid, he is strengthening Arafat against George Habash's more radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Two years ago, Fahd was close to reaching an agreement with Arafat under which Fatah would renounce terrorism in favor of a negotiated peace, a deal that collapsed following Sadat's trip to Jerusalem last November. But Fahd's support for Arafat did not waver. When the Israelis invaded southern Lebanon this spring, the first shipment of arms to reach the P.L.O. guerrillas came from Saudi Arabia.
Without Fahd's help, Anwar Sadat would probably not be in power in Egypt today. When Sadat's regime was shaken by food-price riots in January 1977, the Saudis and their oil-rich friends in the gulf put together a $4 billion aid package to keep Sadat afloat. Fahd was unhappy about not being adequately consulted by Sadat on his peace initiative and was fearful that it might fail; nonetheless, the Saudis announced that their financial aid to Egypt would continue.
The Saudis make little effort to conceal their anxiety about their future security. Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani declared recently that he feared "the day may come, toward the end of the 1980s, when the world will see an all-out oil war in which the strong will fight over the wealth of the oil-exporting countries." Fahd never provokes Communist propaganda assaults by attacking the Soviet Union directly, but he is wary of its designs on the Middle East. He has extended aid to Somalia, Djibouti and other countries in the area to offset Soviet influence, and has occasionally made contributions to anti-Communist political institutions in Western Europe. One recipient: Italy's Christian Democratic Party.