Jordan Times
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
King, Chirac urge world
to support Mideast peace
Monarch addresses European-American Press Club, orders urgent relief aid to
Palestinians
PARIS (Agencies) — King Abdullah called on the
international community to support the Palestinian people at a time of
“expectancy” for the peace process, after talks with French President Jacques
Chirac in Paris on Monday.
At a joint news conference following the talks, the King said the peace process
was going through a period of “expectancy” pending the formation of a
Palestinian government by the radical Islamic group Hamas and Israeli elections
due on March 28.
“All parties have a responsibility to create an environment favourable to a
peaceful settlement” leading to a peaceful two-state solution, he was quoted by
Agence France-Presse as saying.
“The large majority of Palestinians and Israelis want peace.”
Chirac suggested at the news conference that Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas could be in charge of distributing European aid to the
Palestinians after the formation of a Hamas-dominated government.
The EU has warned that its 500 million euros ($600 million) annual aid could be
withdrawn if Hamas does not renounce violence and recognise the Israeli state
and accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians.
“We must not sanction the Palestinian people economically. They have enough
problems and difficulties,” Chirac said.
King Abdullah said it was “the responsibility of the international community to
diminish the difficulties of the Palestinian people.”
King Abdullah directed the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation to dispatch
today a 25-truck convoy loaded with 400 tonnes of essential food supplies for
the Palestinians.
“This is part of a campaign to help the Palestinians overcome their crisis,”
Abdul Salam Abbadi, secretary general of the organisation, was quoted by the
Jordan News Agency, Petra, as saying.
Palestinian officials and international agencies warned Monday that supplies of
bread and other staples were running out in Gaza Strip (see separate story).
At the news conference, King Abdullah also denied reports of diplomatic tension
between Jordan and Israel concerning earlier comments by an Israeli general.
The King said relations between Jordan and Israel were “normal.”
“The tensions were actually exaggerated by people who wanted to do so, via the
press,” he said. “We did not take these comments seriously. Our relations have
always been built on trust.”
The two leaders also discussed means to boost bilateral relations. France is the
largest non-Arab foreign investor in Jordan, King Abdullah told AFP in an
interview last week.
The King had earlier urged the creation of a Palestinian state in the next two
years, in an interview published Monday before the talks with Chirac.
“I think that if two years from now such a state has not been created, there
will be nothing left to negotiate,” he told the newspaper Le Monde.
King Abdullah also warned of an “inter-religious conflict” in Iraq.
“The potential risk of an inter-religious conflict is real. It would be
disastrous for all of us,” he said.
Accompanied on the three-day visit by Queen Rania, the Monarch yesterday
addressed the European-American Press Club in Paris, saying that envisioned
peaceful, integrated global society is not going to materialise by itself, but
it rather “needs active, conscious efforts.”
The King said the world was living a moment of “tremendous global unease.” He
added: “The disquiet that many of us feel was captured in a recent headline
proclaiming the end of tolerance.”
It was prompted, he said, by the controversy over the Danish cartoons
denigrating the Prophet Mohammad.
“Let me simply say that Muslims around the world — and I am one of them —
condemned the denigration of the prophet.” But he stressed that “the majority of
Muslims also condemn the violence that ensued as alien to the principles of
Islam.”
Following his address, the King told reporters that Jordan will deal with Hamas
as part of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian government, saying that
international community has become “tired and apathetic” towards the Mideast
peace process.
“What is needed now is not how to make peace, but commitment to the way peace
should be made,” he said.
He warned that the world will pay the price of failure to achieve peace, adding
that security will only be possible when the life of ordinary Palestinians
improves.
“If disappointments do not stop, Palestinians will fall into the trap of
extremism.” On Iran's nuclear issue, the King said the Islamic republic was
well-known in the region for exercising long-term strategic planning, “leaving
nothing for chances.”
He urged the international community to maintain dialogue and negotiations with
Tehran because the Middle East cannot stand further instability.