Jordan Times
Thursday, March 16, 2006
King warns against
strike on Iran
By Randa Habib
Agence France-Presse
AMMAN — King Abdullah warned that a strike on
Iran would cause the region "to explode" and deplored Israel's raid on a
Palestinian prison, in an interview Wednesday with AFP.
"A strike against Iran would cause the whole region to explode," the Monarch
said in comments on the crisis between the West and Tehran over its nuclear
activities.
"The threat to regional security and stability will be grave if force is
utilised to resolve this problem. Dialogue, patience and diplomacy are the only
solution," he added.
He likewise deplored Israel's raid Tuesday on a Jericho prison to seize
Palestinians wanted over the 2001 murder of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam
Zeevi.
"What happened... is a threat to the future of the peace process and to security
in the region. It is an unfortunate escalation," he said.
"It would have been better for the parties concerned to find another formula to
deal with this issue. They created tension and lessened the chances for an
adequate climate to forge ahead with the peace process."
King Abdullah also urged the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which won an
overwhelming victory in January elections, "to deal with regional and
international realities" as it prepares to form a government.
But he likewise called on the international community "to respect the
Palestinians' will, to give Hamas a chance, and not to judge it before it
presents its programme and vision."
King Abdullah said Amman is ready to deal with it "through the Palestinian
National Authority."
The Monarch also urged Palestinians and Israelis to compromise and return to the
negotiating table, warning that time was running out.
"If we are going to keep throwing the ball to each other's court... the reality
of the situation is that we will find, two years from now, that we have no
homeland to talk about," he said.
He also cautioned that there has been a "drop" in international interest for the
Palestinian issue because of other world concerns such as Iran's row with the
West and Iraq.
"A lawyer once told me that a good deal is always brokered when both sides are
unhappy because both sides have had to give something," he added.
King Abdullah also renewed an invitation to host in Amman an Iraqi interfaith
conference "to come up with a religious consensus so that Iraqis could reach a
political consensus."
"I call on our brothers in Iraq to recognise the gravity of the situation, and
not to listen to those who promote division, internal discord and the division
of Iraqis into Sunni, Shiite, Kurd and Turkman," he said.
He also said the rampant violence in Iraq "placed a huge security burden on
Jordan," where several Iraqis were indicted this week over the devastating
November 9 hotel bombings in Amman.
"Many terrorist movements found in Iraq a fertile ground to achieve their goals,
especially Al Qaeda, which has adopted a strategy of using Iraqis to strike
Jordan, as happened in the Amman hotel bombings," he said.
Earlier this month, Jordan said it foiled a plot involving Iraqi nationals to
strike at a "vital civilian installation."
"We have a security problem at the borders... so we are working now on preparing
the infrastructure," he said.
Meanwhile, the Monarch said he was not worried about the latest victories of
Islamic movements in Egypt and the Palestinian territories.
These elections "showed a surge of Islamic movements because the Islamists
organised themselves well, while other parties were set back by... a lack of
leadership [and] corruption among some of their leaders," he said.
"We in Jordan are not concerned about the possibility of an Islamist victory, as
long as they respect the Constitution, our laws and regulations and as long as
their allegiance is to Jordan," he added.
King Abdullah said he will travel Monday to Paris for talks with French
President Jacques Chirac, including Jordan's efforts to promote "a moderate,
tolerant Islam, to which extremism and fanaticism are alien."