Jordan Times
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Monarch says reform is under way, but the ball is in the international court to create an environment that offers hope to the new generation in the region
AMMAN (JT) — His Majesty King Abdullah urged the US to “clearly and explicitly commit to a Palestinian state,” living side by side with Israel, and called on parties involved in the Mideast conflict to guarantee “security, peace and justice” for their peoples.
“For Israel, it's time to end the occupation and stop the futile effort to humble the Palestinians into submission. For the Palestinian leadership, it is time to act responsibly for peace and reform their political institutions,” King Abdullah said in a speech at the San Francisco-based Commonwealth Club on Saturday.
“There is a good reason to disagree with pessimistic observers who question the willingness of the United States to reengage seriously in the peace process [before the November presidential election] and predict the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and an end to the prospect of delivering a two-state solution,” the King added.
“We are witnessing changes in the Arab world that are removing all strategic security threats to Israel. The Arab peace declaration commits all Arab countries to accept peace with Israel,” the King explained.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher told Agence France-Presse that Jordan wants US guarantees on the final status of Palestinian occupied territories, ahead of a White House meeting between King Abdullah and US President George W. Bush.
“The meeting will enable Jordan's position to be reiterated on the Palestinian question and we want guarantees from the US administration on the final status,” said Muasher, who leaves for the United States on Sunday to join the King.
“We have heard the US administration stress in the past, and again on Friday, that the final status must not be decided in advance but during negotiations.”
During a Washington press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush said all questions linked to the final status must be negotiated between the parties.
“We insist on this stand and on the exclusive right of the parties concerned to negotiate questions which concern the final status,” Muasher told the agency.
He said Jordan “was waiting for the US administration's explanations on this question and how that fits with resolutions held last week” by Bush who gave unprecedented support to Israel on the question of Palestinian refugees.
Bush, who met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Palestinian refugees must make their homes in a future Palestinian state without the possibility of returning to those they left in Israel.
Jordan has reaffirmed its backing for their “right of return.”
Muasher said he met his Palestinian counterpart, Nabil Shaath, in Amman and had been in touch by telephone with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia to “coordinate positions” before the US-Jordanian summit.
On US-proposed democratic reforms in the Arab world, the King told his audience at the Commonwealth Club that the Middle East does need peace, prosperity and modernity.
He added that “to address these issues will take new vision and new visionaries... who can foster responsive transparent governance, dedicate our educational systems to excellence and encourage the vigorous private sector that can harness the region's tremendous human potential.”
The King said such reform is under way, but the ball is in the international court to create an environment that offers hope to the new generation in the region.
“We in Jordan are already committed to the work for reform. It's driven by a vision, a vision that builds on our society's strengths, values and history, while it reaches out to global opportunities. And we are succeeding,” King Abdullah added.
The Commonwealth Club of California, which was marking its 101st anniversary, is the oldest and largest public affairs forum. Its 16,000 members take part in more than 400 events organised by the institution annually.
King Abdullah contributed an article titled “Reform is our priority” to the widely circulated Wall Street Journal, stressing that reforms have already begun in the region.
“Observers of the Middle East are inclined, these days, to raise the question: Where should reform in the Arab world start — within the region or driven from outside? The issue is important, but the question is not quite accurate.
In actual fact, reform in my region has already begun,” he wrote in the article, which was published Saturday.
“Just as most Arabs agree on reform, so too they agree that for reform to succeed, it must emerge from within our societies. Justified or not, many Arabs do not trust the motives of Western-inspired Arab reform.”