Jordan Times
Monday, October 29, 2001
King warns of 'catastrophe' if Arab country hit in terror campaign
By Randa Habib
Agence France-Presse
The King also said the church massacre in Pakistan underscored world concern that “Osama Ben Ladens” around the world are trying to pit East against West.
Arabs and Muslims are not responsible for the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, King Abdullah, in an exclusive interview at his private home of Beit Al Baraka in the western suburbs of Amman, repeatedly stressed.
“I strongly believe there should not be any military action against any Arab country,” King Abdullah said.
“We have explained to the coalition the great catastrophe if an Arab country is hit,” the King said, asked about the possibility of an Arab country, notably Iraq, being attacked.
He branded the Sept. 11 anti-US attacks for which Ben Laden is the prime suspect as a “heinous crime against all of us” that was carried out by “a few unrepresentative extremists who have nothing to do with” Islam.
“Those terrorists pose a double threat to us as Arabs and Muslims: The threat of inflicting suffering on people and the threat of tarnishing the images of a great religion and civilisation,” he said.
King Abdullah, himself a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad, reiterated that the fight against terrorism was not a fight between East and West.
“Our concern is that the Osama Ben Ladens of this world would like to make this a struggle between East and West, between the West and Islam,” he said, condemning Sunday's church attack in Pakistan that killed at least 16 Christians. “So that when we see attacks on mosques or attacks on churches it is really following what they want,” the King said.
“And we have to be very careful as Muslims and Christians in the international community not to fall into that trap,” the King said.
“We need to continue to further promote dialogue and understanding between the coalition and our brethren Arab countries,” he said.
The King said Jordan had lost “more Jordanian diplomats to acts of terror than any other country in the region” and saw the coalition as “a fight against a common threat, for the right of all peoples, wherever they are, to live in peace and security.”
“Sept. 11 ushered in a new era,” the King said, adding that the Arabs were at the forefront of international efforts to fight terrorism, a plight faced by several capitals in the region.
“International terrorism will not be tolerated and Arab countries, like countries across the world, are now engaged in a global struggle against terrorism, a struggle that will be multi-dimensional and will be fought on different political, economic, military and intelligence fronts,” he said.
He also reiterated that as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks there is more urgency, particularly in the United States, to solve the Palestinian problem by pooling efforts towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
“Everybody realises that we will have a Palestinian state on Palestinian national soil sooner or later. Our view is that we need to move quickly to achieve that because delaying this inevitably means continued conflict and tension,” he said.
Asked about reports of the existence of terrorist plots against himself and the Jordanian people, he said investigations were under way and details would be forthcoming.
“As time goes by we will be able to release more information and you'll be surprised what the Jordanian intelligence service has done in terms of preventing attacks on Americans, on Jordanians and inside Europe,” he said.
“To answer your question on terrorist threats against me, I will just say that our fight against terrorism did not start with the current coalition, it started long before it,” he said.
Turning to domestic issues, he renewed his call on the government to carry out a “massive economic and social reform programme” to improve the condition of Jordanians in 2002, and specifically to curb unemployment and poverty.
The King first made the request call in a message to Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb, in which he also asked the premier to reshuffle his government in a bid to improve its performance.
The new line-up including three newcomers was announced on Saturday and saw the scrapping of the ministries of information and youth, and their replacement with “higher councils”.
“The media is a major tool for change and it needs to be free but responsible in carrying out its role. The Higher Council that we have called for will include professional journalists and media specialists as well as key opinion leaders who have moral clout,” King Abdullah said.