Ghazi Abdul Rahman Al Gosaibi ( ar, غازي بن عبدالرحمن القصيبي; 3 March 1940 – 15 August 2010) was a Saudi politician, diplomat, technocrat, poet, and novelist. He was an intellectual and a member of the Al Gosaibi family that is one of the oldest and richest trading families of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Al Gosaibi was considered among Saudi Arabia's topmost technocrats since the mid-1970s. ''
The Majalla
''The Majalla'', often directly transliterated as ''Al Majalla'' (Arabic:المجلة, "the magazine") is a Saudi-owned, London-based political news journal published in Arabic, English and Persian. The magazine's headquarters in Saudi Arabia i ...
'' called him the "Godfather of Renovation"
while Saudi journalist
Othman Al Omeir
Othman Al Omeir (born 1950) (Arabic:عثمان العمير) is a Saudi-born British businessman, journalist and editor. He is considered to be close to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and former rulers, including King Fahd, King Hassan II and Has ...
argued that he was "the only great man in Saudi Arabia."
Early life and education
Al Gossaibi was born on 3 March 1940 to one of the richest families of the Kingdom in Hofuf located in
Al Ahsa province.
[ The family was of ]Najd
Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
i origin. His mother was from the Kateb family of Mecca who died when he was aged nine months, and he was raised by his grandmother.[
He received primary and secondary education in Bahrain which was a British protectorate during that time.] He attended the University of Cairo
Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
and received a degree in law in 1961. Later, he moved to the United States and graduated from the University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
with a degree in international relations in 1964. He later completed his PhD in law at the University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
in 1970; his PhD thesis was about the Yemen crisis which took place from 1962 to 1967.
Career
Al Gosaibi began his career working as a lecturer at King Saud University
King Saud University (KSU, ar, جامعة الملك سعود) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulaziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in the K ...
in 1965.[ He held various positions, including associate professor, dean of the faculty of commerce and head of the department of political science.][ In 1965, he served as a legal consultant to the Saudi reconciliation committee; the job was related to negotiating with the Egyptian forces in Yemen.][ He also served as the director general of ]Saudi Railways Organization
The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) ( ar, المؤسسة العامة للخطوط الحديدية) is one of two state-owned companies that operates Saudi Arabia's rail network along with Saudi Railway Company. The SRO operates a network of ra ...
in 1970, chairman of Jubail Petrochemical Company (Sadaf) and Yanbu Petrochemical Company (Yanpet),[ member on Public Investment Fund, Supreme Manpower Council,][ and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.][
Al Gosaibi was one of the technocrats in the 1970s who were chosen by the Saudi government for assigning public positions and posts.] In October 1975, King Khalid
Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, خالد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود ''Khalid ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd'' ; 13 February 1913 13 June 1982) was a Saudi Arabian statesman and politician who served as King and Prime Minister of ...
appointed him the minister of industry and electricity, which he held the position until 1983.[ In 1976 he proposed the creation of a joint-stock state-controlled firm that could serve as a catalyst for the industrialization of Saudi Arabia. Later that year the ]Saudi Basic Industries Corporation
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation ( ar, الشركة السعودية للصناعات الأساسية), known as SABIC ( ar, سابك), is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in ...
(SABIC) was created, and Al Gosaibi was named its chairman. He also served as the minister of health from 1983 to 1984.[ He was removed from office without any explanation in 1984.] Then he served as the ambassador to Bahrain (1984-1992) and was subsequently appointed the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1992.[ Al Gosaibi replaced Nasser Almanquor as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland following the latter's removal due to his support for the ]fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
(religious decree) asking for the death of British writer Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
. In 1999, Al Gosaibi nominated himself to serve for the post of director general of UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
. However, he was not elected, and Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
diplomat, Koichiro Matsuura
Kōichirō, Koichiro, Kouichirou or Kohichiroh is a masculine Japanese given name.
Possible Writings
*晃一郎, "clear, one, son"
*光一郎, "light, one, son"
*弘一郎, "vast, one, son"
*鴻一郎, "prosperous, one, son"
*紘一郎, "large, on ...
, became the director general.[ In the election, Matsuura won 34 votes, Al Gosaibi 13. Al Gosaibi's term as Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland ended in September 2002.][
Next Al Gosaibi was appointed minister of water and electricity in mid-September 2002 when the ministry of agriculture and water was divided into two independent ministerial bodies.] His tenure lasted until April 2004. During this period, Al Gosaibi was also appointed board member of Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco ( ar, أرامكو السعودية '), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company) or simply Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. , it is one of ...
and served in the post until October 2004. King Fahd
Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود ''Fahd ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd'', ; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was a Saudi Arabian politician who was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia fro ...
appointed him as the minister of labor on 13 April 2004 following the split of the labor and social affairs ministry into two.[ He contributed to the national strategy of Saudization into practice and motivated private firms to employ a greater proportion of Saudi nationals. He served in the post until his death in 2010][ and was succeeded by ]Adel Fakeih
Adel Fakeih (born 1 July 1959; Arabic:عادل فقيه) is a Saudi Arabian engineer and the former mayor of Jeddah. He was the minister of labor from August 2010 to April 2015, minister of health between April 2014 and December 2014, and minist ...
in the post.
Al Gosaibi was a member of the honorary committee of Painting & Patronage from 2000 to 2010. He also actively participated in the organization of its first and second programmes held in London in 2000 and Riyadh in 2001, respectively.[
]
Dismissals
Al Gosaibi, while serving as minister of health, was dismissed in 1984.[ He had openly asked for and supported the transparent tendering for regional hospitals.][ This criticism of Al Gosaibi targeted ]Saudi Oger
Saudi Oger Ltd ( ar, سعودي أوجيه), was a Saudi construction company, incorporated in January 1978 with its headquarters in Riyadh. The initial paid up capital of SR 1 million (US$267,000) was subsequently increased to the present level o ...
, owned by late Rafik Hariri
Rafik is the given name of:
*Rafik Al-Hariri (1944–2005), business tycoon, former Prime Minister of Lebanon
*Rafik Bouderbal (born 1987), French-born Algerian player currently playing for ES Sétif in the Algerian Championnat National
*Rafik Deg ...
, who had been closely associated with King Fahd.[ Since Al Gosaibi was not able to meet with King Fahd, he wrote a poem for the King, entitled "A Pen Bought and Sold".][ The poem, which was published on the front page of '' Al Jazirah'', indirectly accused the ruling elites, including ]Prince Sultan
Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (c. 5 January 1928 – 22 October 2011) (Arabic: سلطان بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود ''Sulṭān ibn ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Suʿūd''), called ''Sultan the Good'' (Arabic: سلطان الخير ''Sulṭa ...
, minister of defence, of corruption.[ King Fahd fired him after reading the poem.][
Al Gosaibi was also removed from his post as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2002 due to his poem, a short verse entitled "You Are the Martyrs", published in '']Al Hayat
Al-Hayat ( ar, الحياة meaning "Life") was a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred ve ...
'' in mid-April, supposedly praising a Palestinian female suicide bomber.[ The poem was allegedly dedicated to a Palestinian teenager, Ayat Akhras who blew herself up on 29 March 2002 in the Kiryat HaYovel supermarket in ]Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, resulting in the death of two Israelis.[ Al Gosaibi described her as the "bride of the heavens" who "stands up to the criminal" and "kisses death with a smile."][ The poem also included critical views about the United States][ and the Arab political and intellectual elite, who, for Al Gosaibi, did not assume any responsibility with regard to the Palestinian conflict.][ Before his removal from his post by the Saudi government, Al Gosaibi had faced censure from the ]British Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
because of the aforementioned poem.
Views
Al Gosaibi, as the minister of industry and electricity, stated in 1980 that American foreign policy
The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...
was "self-doubt, isolative, and had a tendency to abdicate."[ He also criticised the approach by US media towards Saudi Arabia.] During his tenure as Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, he described Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
as "a human monster" in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...
in the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's HARDtalk interview. In 2002, he argued that the suicide bombers "died to honor God's word."