The White House has acknowledged differences with Saudi Arabia over dealing with the Middle East peace process, but says relations with the oil-rich kingdom remain excellent.

White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer also praised Saudi contributions to Mideast stability and prosperity. The comments Tuesday were in response to earliers statements by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah that U.S. support for Israel is, in his words, "indefensible."

U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said the administration values Saudi input on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In an interview published in the New York Times and Washington Post, the Saudi crown prince, who is the kingdom's de-facto ruler, said he believes Washington has turned its back on Palestinian civilian casualties.

In the newspaper interviews, the crown prince said no discussions are underway about the future of an estimated five-thousand U.S. troops stationed at bases in Saudi Arabia.

There has been some strong criticism of Saudi Arabia in the United States since the September 11th attacks, particularly after 15 of the 19 suspected terrorists were identified as Saudi citizens. They were members of the al-Qaida terrorist network of Osama bin Laden, who is Saudi-born but was stripped of his citizenship years ago.

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