King Abdullah II of Jordan was present Wednesday for the first direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in two years. The King warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that failure to produce peace would be a victory for the terrorists.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
All eyes are upon us, Abdullah said. He praised President Barack Obama for serving as an “honest broker and partner.” Obama is overseeing the meeting between Netanyahu and Abbas.
“Solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-state solution is the key to regional peace which leads to normal relations between Israel and 57 Arab and Muslim nations that have endorsed the Arab Peace Initiative,” the King said prior to the meeting.
He also underlined the need “to spare no effort in addressing all final-status issues with a view to reaching the two-state solution.”
The King added that the two-state solution is ” the only solution that guarantees the interests of all and the only solution that can create a future worthy of our great region, a future of peace, in which fathers and mothers can raise their children without fear and young people can look forward to lives of achievement and hope and 300 million people can cooperate for mutual benefit.”
The price of failure , King Abdullah warned, will be too high for all.
He also said, ”Peace is also a right for every citizen in our region and for too long too many people of the region have been denied, their most basic of human rights to live in peace, security and dignity.”
The King added, “Our peoples want peace, and we can do so if we approach these negotiations with good will, sincerity and courage.”
King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are the two leaders who will help with the negotiations. Both of their countries are the only Arab nations will peace agreements with Israel.
During a visit to an orphanage in the Amman neighborhood of Al Hashemi Al Shamali, King Abdullah II ordered the Jordanian government to set up a strategy to secure the future of the Kingdom’s orphans.
The King wants the strategy to include clear and effective programs that will provide them with training, education and rehabilitation needed for a decent life.
He also urged the government to renovate the infrastructures of orphanages and care shelters all over Jordan.
Accompanied by his wife, Queen Rania, Abdullah toured the orphanage and saw its computer lab and classrooms. They also met with some children and talked with them about their needs. The orphanage is home to 43 children, between the ages of 7 to 14.
With Jordan observing Ramadan, a time for charity for Muslims, it seems the King and Queen are tackling orphans’ needs. The couple recently announced they would be funding education for 200 orphans.
The King of Jordan will be at the first Mideast peace talks in 20 months on September 1st. He accepted an invitation from U.S. President Barack Obama to attend.
“President Obama has invited President [Hosni] Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan to attend in view of their critical role in this effort,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a recent news conference.
Both Egypt and Jordan have peace agreements with Israel.
Also expected at the talks are Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The talks between Israelis and Palestinians will aim to set up a peace deal within one year.
In the spirit of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania announced Tuesday that they will cover the education expenses for 200 of their country’s orphans.
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji/FILE
The beneficiaries are part of the Al Aman Fund for the Future of Orphans. Those who will get their expenses paid for are the ones who have completed high school.
The King and Queen will pay for not only tuition but for accommodation, transport, books, stationery and medical insurance.
On Wednesday, Rania met with a group of seven orphans who will benefit from Al Aman. They thanked the Queen for the fund, and talked to her about the difficulties they face being orphans growing up in foster homes or orphanages.
Al Aman – which is Arabic for “security” – is a non-profit organization started by Queen Rania back in 2006. It gets its funds from private and corporate donations.
Since it began, over a thousand Jordanian orphans have benefited from Al Aman, with 300 of them graduating from high education institutions and establishing careers.
Those who are accepted by the fund have to be evaluated before being accepted.
Since late Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has been making brief stops in four Mideast nations in order to calm the rising tensions in Lebanon and promote Arab unity. The King’s tour began in Egypt and ended in Jordan.
AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi
While in a Sinai resort town, King Abdullah met with President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the Mideast peace process and Lebanon. Their meeting lasted only one hour.
After that, Abdullah went to Syria where he was greeted at a Damascus airport by President Bashar al-Assad. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia are easing tensions that started in 2005, when Saudi ally, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiki Hariri, was assassinated. It is believed that a Syrian killed Hariri, which Syria firmly denies.
During their meeting, the King urged al-Assad to use his influence over Hezbollah, a Lebanese resistance movement, to avoid any conflicts.
Once the meeting was over, both leaders went to Beirut together. Although things have been tense with Syria and Lebanon, diplomatic ties have been warming up lately, with current Prime Minister Saad Hariri visiting Damascus five times since 2008.
In Beirut, King Abdullah, President al-Assad met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. A statement from the presidency said the leaders had discussed “ways to reinforce national accord and Lebanon’s stability” and stressed the need to avoid violence.
AP Photo/Ahmad Omar
Also at the meeting was Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, who said the issue over a tribunal indicting a rogue Hezbollah member over Hariri’s father’s murder, was raised during the closed-door talks.
“The (meeting) discussed the tribunal decision … and how it will reflect on the situation in Lebanon,” he told Reuters. “We consider this a very sensitive and dangerous subject, (that is) putting the tribunal under Israel’s service against the resistance.”
Lebanese political analyst Suleiman Taqi al-Deen said the Saudi-Syrian visit was “important, exceptional and pre-emptive.”
“It is the first time it happens before a situation in Lebanon explodes. It is an understanding to defuse the Lebanese problem because if it explodes its consequences will be very dangerous on the region,” he told Reuters.
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (
After the historic meeting in Beirut, King Abdullah went next to Jordan where he met its King, also named Abdullah. There, the Saudi King told his counterpart about his talks in Lebanon, and even the Palestinian issue.
“The two leaders stressed their backing for Lebanon’s efforts to enhance its stability, security, unity and national accord,” a Jordanian palace statement said.
“Saudi Arabia and Jordan support the Palestinian people in seeking to restore their rights,” the statement went on to say. “A two-state solution is the only way to achieve security and stability in the region.”
After the Friday meeting, the Jordanian King hosted an official dinner for the Saudi King. The latter then returned to Riyadh.
The Saudi King’s Mideast tour came at a time when the results of a UN tribunal’s investigation into Hariri’s murder — expected to be announced by the end of 2010 — have sparked tensions in Lebanon.
The tense atmosphere is further hurt by threats of a war against Lebanon by Israel, who has been accusing Hezbollah of receiving weapons from Syria — a claim also echoed by the United States. Both Lebanese and Syrian officials strongly dismiss the accusations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise visit to Amman Tuesday, when he met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss the Mideast Peace Process. Netanyahu was trying to get the King to persuade the Palestinians to resume peace talks.
AFP/HO/Yussef Allan
This visit came just three months after the King lamented to the Wall Street Journal over the Israeli leader’s actions which he felt brought relations between Israel and Jordan to new lows.
The meeting went on for more than two hours, and it focused on making “progress to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, based on a two-state solution, in a regional context,” said a statement from the Jordan News Agency, known as Petra.
Netanyahu’s office said that the meeting highlighted on “the need to ensure direct, serious and effective negotiations” toward “two states for two peoples.” The office also said that the talks addressed the need “to advance peace, security and prosperity in the region,” as well as the wish for “direct, serious and effective negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.”
The palace statement said King Abdullah asked Netanyahu to “make use of the opportunity available now to achieve peace, which constitutes a strategic interest for all sides involved.”
Once the meeting was done, the Israeli PM returned to his country and praised the Jordanian King. “We talked about promoting peace between Israel and the Palestinians and in the whole region,” Netanyahu said. “I welcome Jordan’s efforts for progress toward these goals.”
Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab nations with peace treaties with Israel.
On Monday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met with King Abdullah. Afterward, Abbas told reporters that the Palestinians are not avoiding the peace talks.
“We have negotiated with Israeli governments before, more than once. Why would we avoid such talks? We are not.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania gave out the fifth annual King Abdullah II Award for Physical Fitness Wednesday at the Prince Hamzah Hall at the Al Hussein Sports City in Amman. The award honors Jordan’s school children in maintaining their physical health, and this year, Abdullah and Rania’s two daughters, Princesses Iman and Salma, were among the recipients.
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji
The girls joined over 400,000 students from all over the Kingdom in receiving their awards. The Award for Physical Fitness began in 2005 to promote healthy lifestyles for young people, whom make up one-third of Jordan’s population.
At the start of the ceremony, the King and Queen, along with their youngest son, Prince Hashem, watched a documentary describing the award and how it judges the fitness of students.
Their Majesties then signed a map of Jordan and vowed to spread the award to all eligible schools in the country. So far, 2,171 schools take part in the initiative – from private to military to government to UNRWA schools.
Then the awards were given out, according to age groups. Princesses Iman and Salma won the gold standards for their ages, which are 14 and 10.
In an interview with the Jordan Times, Award Project Manager Samer Al Kasih talked about ways of getting all the students in the Kingdom physically fit.
“This is the award’s 5th anniversary and we are really happy and satisfied that the number of students and schools taking part is increasing year after year and this time we have a very significant increase which makes us proud.”
“This year a total number of 9,535 students – 3,033 males and 6,502 females – were able to achieve an average of 85 per cent and this is a great achievement,” he added.
Kasih also said that the “students at all levels should be encouraged to do sports by joining the programs of the award which are organized by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Royal Health Awareness Society.”
The point of this award is help children ward of diseases such as cancer, heart problems and diabetes through daily sports activities which would encourage them to stay fit.
It also aims to detect sport abilities at an early age so children could train at special facilities.
Chairman of the Board of the Royal Society for Health Education Dr. Rami Farraj told the Jordan Times, that the award will work to find a Jordanian national standard for measuring the level of physical fitness for all, with a draft award aimed at the whole community.
On Monday, in the presence of the Jordanian royal family, Prince Feisal married Sara Qabbani. This is the second marriage for the Prince, who is the brother to King Abdullah II, and the first for Sara. The nuptials took place one day before Jordan celebrates its independence day.
Jordan Times/Yousuf Allan
The wedding took place at Zahran Palace, and was attended by several of Feisal’s brothers and sisters, plus his mother, Princess Muna. Sara’s family was also in attendance.
She is of Lebanese descent, though she was raised in Saudi Arabia. Sara earned a degree in journalism and mass communications in 2000 from the American University in Cairo, the same institution Queen Rania went to. That makes the new Princess the second woman in the Jordanian royal family to have a journalism background, after Princess Rym, the wife of Prince Ali.
Jordan Times/ Yousuf Allan
Sara is the managing director of the “Generations for Peace” a peace-building initiative, which was established by Prince Feisal. She is also an advisory panel member of Beyond Sport and represents Generations for Peace on the working party of the International Forum on Sport for Peace and Development.
Prince Feisal was married for almost 20 years to Alia al Tabba. He had four children with her, but they divorced a few years ago. His son, Prince Omar, was present for the wedding, though his three daughters were not.
Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah began his state visit to Jordan Monday, becoming the first Kuwaiti leader to make such a visit in 20 years.
KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/Getty Images
He was greeted by King Abdullah II and his brothers – Princes Feisal, Ali and Hamzah – at an Amman airport. The King then took to Emir to the palace, where the official welcoming ceremony took place.
Once that was done, the two leaders went indoors for talks. They mostly discussed the Mideast Peace Process, but they also focused on renewing ties between Jordan and Kuwait. The tiny Gulf state cut off ties with Jordan when it accused it of siding with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.
But having the Emir in Jordan shows signs of easing tensions between the two countries. A few weeks ago, Jordan’s Minister of Education Ibrahim Badran was in Kuwait to discuss having education links.
This time around, King Abdullah likely made a request for aid to help his economically weak Kingdom.
“The political trust is gone….Economically, we were better off in trade and in movement before my father signed the peace treaty.”
AFP/FILE/Joseph Eid
So said Jordan’s King Abdullah II in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published online Monday. In the article, he laments over the relations between his country and Israel, which he claims are as low as they were when his father, King Hussein, signed the treaty in 1994.
These days, the Mideast Peace Process seems to be at a standstill, and King Abdullah is not keeping it secret that he is frustrated.
“I met Benjamin Netanyahu…this time last year. I was extremely optimistic by the vision he had for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the Israelis and the Arabs.”
“However, I have to say, that over the past 12 months, everything I’ve seen on the ground has made me extremely skeptical,” the King said. “And, I believe I’m one of the more optimistic people you’ll find in this part of the world.”
The monarch also told the Journal that when he meets with U.S. President Barack Obama this weekend, he will push him to impose on Israel the terms and timeline for new peace talks with the Palestinians. The King also voiced concern that without a new round of talks, there could be violence in the near future.
“Over the Israeli-Lebanese border; if you spoke (to some Lebanese) today they feel there is going to be a war any second. (It) looks like there is an attempt by certain groups to promote a third intifada, which would be disastrous. Jerusalem as you are well aware is a tinderbox that could go off at any time, and then there is the overriding concern about military action between Israel and Iran,” King Abdullah said.
“So with all these things in the background, the status quo is not acceptable; what will happen is that we will continue to go around in circles until the conflict erupts, and there will be suffering by peoples because there will be a war.”
The King pointed out the next two months will determine the future of Middle East.
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