Jordan Times
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
World offering
‘piecemeal way’ for Mideast crises — King
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah on Tuesday said the international community was
offering a “piecemeal way” to tackle Middle East crises instead of an overall
strategy.
"I don't think there is an agenda out there. I think it's a piecemeal way of
dealing with the situation, whether it's the Israeli-Palestinian one, whether
it's Lebanon, or whether it's Iraq or the issue of Iran. I don't think there is
an overall strategy," the King told Lyse Doucet of BBC World during an
interview.
He said Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other Arab countries were trying to form
a unified position on Lebanon.
"Because we're not seeing the international community dealing with the issues in
the Middle East comprehensively," the Monarch said.
"Each time we have a crisis, it gets far more unstable, and the endgame, or
where we're going to be leading as the Middle East in the future, is very dim. I
can't read the political map of the Middle East anymore, because I just see so
many heavy clouds that are over our shoulders at this stage and I really feel
and fear for the future of the Middle East."
Commenting on what US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described as a “new
Middle East”, the King asked: "A new Middle East?”
“The way I'm looking at this new Middle East, I'm seeing what is happening in
Somalia, I'm seeing what's happening in Gaza, I see what's happening in Lebanon,
I'm seeing what's happening in Iraq. This is a new Middle East?"
To avoid double standards in addressing the region's problems, the King told the
BBC, there was a need for returning to the peace process, warning against any
unilateral move.
"Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon, but without sitting around the table and
discussing with the Lebanese, pulled out of Gaza without really sitting down
with the Palestinian Authority and discussing how to finally end the Palestinian
problem," he said.
"We need to actually come to negotiations at the end of the day, that the
Israelis and Arabs know what the future is. The grey areas at this stage don't
help us anymore."
King Abdullah reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.
"We, I think as the Arab countries and Lebanon, also see it slightly
differently, and again I am hoping that you know, we can bridge those
differences in the United Nations in the next couple of days. If not, then this
thing is going to continue for a few more days or weeks."
He said the West, including the US, said they would stand by the Lebanon but,
"the minute action started, everybody left the Lebanese alone".
"All of us need to stand behind the Lebanese people and [Prime Minister Fuad]
Siniora's government. They are in the best position, I think, to articulate what
is needed, and so we are supporting the seven-point plan of Siniora.”
The Lebanese, the King said, have over the past 20 years been able to rise up
from the rubble to build their country and move in the future. But now, Lebanon
"is being knocked back into the Stone Age".
There is no winner in the war, the King stressed, adding that there is a lot of
emotional response to Hizbollah because a lot of Arabs feel that it is a
resistance group that is fighting occupiers.
"How long is this going to continue?" King Abdullah asked. "You can't destroy
Hizbollah, not as a movement. So, okay you have the bombs today, tomorrow, or
after tomorrow, we will have another Hizbollah... elsewhere."
"If we don't solve the core issues. And again, the core issue is the
Israeli-Palestinian one, and the Israeli-Arab one, if we don't solve these
problems, then for the next ten, fifteen, twenty years it's going to get worse
and worse and worse, Israelis, Arabs, Palestinians are going to pay for it, but
also the international community."
If the Middle East conflict continues, he stressed, radicalism will gain ground
and "the moderate countries are becoming less emboldened to stick their necks".