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.
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.
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.”
The King of Saudi Arabia met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday, one year after he awarded the President with a medal before Obama made his speech on U.S. – Muslim relations in Egypt.
Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg-Pool/Getty Images
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud talked mainly about the Mideast peace process with Obama, something many want the President to take action on.
“The King wants to have from Obama the assurance that he is going to solve the (Middle East peace) issue,” said Khaled Al-Maeena, editor of the Saudi daily Arab News and a member of the king’s delegation, according to Reuters.
Saudi Arabians feel Obama has not done much with the peace process. They would like to see him put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop Israeli settlements on Palestinian territories, something many feel has stalled the problem.
Also discussed during the meeting was Iran and its nuclear program. King Abdullah told Obama about his concern that Iran is his Kingdom’s key foreign policy threat and wondered what will happen when the U.S. withdraws its troops from Iraq.
The Queen of Jordan spoke out against Israel’s campaign in Gaza on Sunday, following the attack on the Turkish flotilla last week. In an article in the British newspaper, The Independent, Queen Rania said the blockade has turned Gaza into a “barely functioning, open-air prison.”
AP Photo/Nader Daoud/FILE
“The attack stunned the world because of its blatant and absurd disregard for anything resembling international law, human rights and diplomatic norms. Its glaring outrageousness stunned, but didn’t surprise me,” she went on to write.
“On the flotilla were 10,000 tons of, not guns, but vital humanitarian aid. The people of Gaza desperately need it to survive the 1,000 days of illegal blockade which has crippled Gaza…This is aid like cement to rebuild homes, which have lain in rubble and ruin since the monstrous attacks on Gaza last year; school supplies and medical equipment, like water purification tablets and wheelchairs.”
The Queen also voiced her frustration with the policies that “debar Palestinian value and, by extension, human value”.
“What is most frustrating is Israel’s defence of its actions. By attacking criticism as part of an anti-Israel, anti-Semitic propaganda war, Israel, yet again, fails to understand that the problem is policy, not PR.”
“Assigning themselves authority and immunity, Israel’s leaders feel licensed to do whatever they like and not expect an international outcry,” she said. “I fear that if the tides don’t turn in our region, moderation will be amongst the most painful casualties of continued aggression and hardline policies.”
Although Jordan signed a peace treaty agreement with Israel in 1994, it joined many other countries in criticizing the country in the flotilla attack. Israel said the attack was provoked by those onboard.
In addition, while some applauded Queen Rania’s op-ed, there were some who felt the Queen – who is of Palestinian origin – overstepped her boundaries and did what either her husband King Abdullah II or Jordan’s Foreign Minister should have done.
“The piece is fairly strong-worded coming out of Jordan and addressing a predominantly western audience,” wrote Jordanian blogger Naseem Tarawnah. “It’s rare to see that kind of commentary emanating from the state and one might wonder why King Abdullah didn’t write it himself, or, in other words, why Queen Rania was given this role to play even though foreign policy isn’t exactly her domain.”
“There is a spark of confusion to consider, as I am personally unable to tell whether Queen Rania is speaking for herself or for the Jordanian state,” Tarawnah continued. “Such confusion is absent when it is the actual leader of the country who is making a statement that concerns foreign affairs; the line becomes gray when it is the Queen.”
The leaders of six Gulf nations gathered in Riyadh for the 12th annual Gulf Cooperation Council. Royals from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates came to Dirriyah Palace to discuss among Iran, Iraq, Yemen and the Mideast peace process.
Xinhua/Saudi Photo Agency
All those in attendance agreed to back the U.S.-backed Mideast peace process, which broke down last year. They also called for a revival of the peace talks and for Israel to stop settlements in Palestinian territories.
In addition, the Gulf leaders sided with Kuwait in an alleged Iranian spy group discovered in that country. The secretary-general of the GCC, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, said “The security of the Gulf region is a red line. The security of the Gulf cannot be divided.”
“But our Kuwaiti friends want to handle it themselves for the moment,” he added.
As for Iraq, the GCC members called for all neighboring countries and the international community to help the troubled nation to get back on its feet.
The GCC was hosted by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Crown Prince Sultan and Prince Naif were present. The monarchs of Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait were there, while the UAE was represented by its Vice President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai. Oman was the other country at the summit, but its deputy prime minister was there instead of its Sultan.
“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.
This weekend, the King of Jordan was at the 22nd Arab Summit held in Sitre, Libya. It was there that King Abdullah II spoke of his commitment to the Mideast peace process, and reiterated his call for a Palestinian state.
“Israel must know that it will never have security unless the Palestinians also have their right to security, freedom and a state… and it must choose between remaining an isolated fortress or living in peace with its neighbors,” the King said in a speech.
Abdullah also said Israel was “playing with fire” by building settlements in East Jerusalem, which is where many Palestinians live. He urged the world to put pressure on Israel to stop the constructions.
But he also mentioned how the Arab world needs to stand together for the sake of the peace process and other plans.
“It is in this context that we support every effort that seeks to clear the Arab atmosphere, achieve Arab solidarity and overcome all differences that lead to external interference in our affairs… not for the sake of championing our just causes but to achieve ambitions of hegemony and influence,” King Abdullah said.
The King also discussed Iraq, and how fellow Arabs need to help the country secure itself.
“I must stress here that what we have done for Iraq is below our expectations… for Iraq needs more than moral support… Iraq needs effective assistance on the ground,” the King said.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on Wednesday, his final stop on his trip to the Middle East, the first ever by a Brazilian head of state. Lula arrived in Amman with his wife, First Lady Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva, and was greeted by King Abdullah II and Queen Rania.
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji
After an official welcoming ceremony and an inspection of the troops, the foursome went inside for talks.
The King and the President concentrated mainly on the stalling Mideast peace process, which Lula hopes he could bring a different viewpoint to the table. Before his departure, he said in an interview that the Middle East needs “someone with neutrality to speak the truth to the Israelis, to tell the truth to Palestinians, Iranians, Syrians, and whoever wants to hear the truth.”
According to a palace statement, Abdullah and Lula’s discussion “reviewed regional developments and ways to overcome the hurdles preventing Palestinian-Israeli peace talks based on a two-state solution from advancing.”
Later, their two delegations joined in for talks to “examine ways of developing bilateral economic relations, particularly in the energy and technology fields,” it added.
The President will be in Jordan until tomorrow. He will visit the ancient city of Petra before returning to Brazil.
Before coming to Jordan, President Lula visited Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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