- guardian.co.uk, Sunday April 14 2002 13.02 BST
The news is likely to strain relations between the oil rich Gulf state and the United States after Ghazi Algosaibi also used the poem to criticise America and said the White House was 'filled with darkness'.
Algosaibi, a well-known poet and writer, had his latest work published in Arabic on the front page of the London-based al-Hayat newspaper. He has been Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain for more than a decade and was once quoted as saying: 'Poetry is the soul of the Arabs.'
The poem is called 'The Martyrs' and appears to praise suicide bombers for taking direct action while others stood by and did nothing. The short piece stated: 'You died to honour God's word. (You) committed suicide? We committed suicide by living like the dead.'
Algosaibi referred specifically to 18-year-old suicide bomber Ayat Akhras, who detonated explosives strapped to her body at a Jerusalem supermarket on 29 March, killing two Israelis and wounding 25.
'Tell Ayat, the bride of loftiness... She embraced death with a smile while the leaders are running away from death. Doors of heaven are opened for her,' Algosaibi wrote.
In another reference, he refers to Arab leaders looking for American help to end the violence but meeting little response. 'We complained to the idols of a White House whose heart is filled with darkness,' he said.
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office declined to comment on the poem.
