Jordan Times
Thursday, September 13, 2001

King: US attacks add urgency to Mideast solution

By Francesca Sawalha

In two separate interviews with the American television channels ABC and CNN, King Abdullah expressed sorrow and grief for the loss of innocent lives and reiterated the condolences of the Jordanian people and government to America and all Americans.

“If the United States had resolved the problems in the Middle East, notably the Israeli-Palestinian question, I seriously doubt that they would have taken place,” King Abdullah said in comments to CNN on Tuesday's attacks in New York and Washington.

The King was on his way to the US for a several-day visit including scheduled talks with President George W. Bush on Sept. 20, when the news of the explosions at the World Trade Centre towers reached him, an official said.

His plane, already in US airspace, he decided to return home, and landed here early on Wednesday.

The scheduled talks with Bush, however, were not cancelled, the official stressed. The agenda was simply put on hold, in light of Tuesday's devastating attacks.

The King was widely expected to urge Bush and his administration to play a more active role in the all but dead peace process and help stop the nearly 12-month-old Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians.

Tuesday's terror attacks were “a call for all of us in the international community to ensure a stop to the violence and bring the parties back to the negotiations table,” the King told CNN.

“The vacuum is giving extremists the upper hand and providing them with opportunities to try and carry out operations like those which occurred yesterday,” he said.

The 53-year-old Palestinian-Israeli problem must be “solved once and for all,” he declared.

The King said Jordanian security and law enforcement agencies had been “working closely” with the United States for several years to fight terrorism.

Terrorism is not a “new phenomenon of the week ... I am surprised that something similar had not happened earlier,” he said.

Referring to the celebrations which took place in some parts of the West Bank and Gaza as the news of the terror attacks broke out on Tuesday, King Abdullah stated that the behaviour of a small group of individuals should not be generalised to all Palestinians and Arabs.

“We were all shocked and saddened by the devastating incident,” he said.

The King sent a cable of condolences to Bush on Tuesday, expressing also the sorrow and grief of the Jordanian government and people.

Yesterday, the King also convened and chaired a meeting of senior ministers to review the spate of terror attacks.

Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb, Interior Minister Awad Khleifat, Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib and Information Minister Saleh Qallab were present at the meeting, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, said.

Speaking at the meeting, the King categorically condemned the acts of violence that resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians. On behalf of the Jordanian people, government, and Throne, he reiterated his condolences to the American government, people, and the bereaved families of the victims.

The Monarch also listened to the prime minister's briefing on the domestic situation and to a report by the foreign minister on the latest tragic developments in the Palestinian territories, as well as the outcome of this week's meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers and a tripartite Jordanian-Egyptian-Palestinian meeting.