Jordan Times
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Urgent need for Mideast stability, peace — King
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah on Tuesday reiterated
the urgent need for stability and peace in the Middle East in an address to UK
legislators, a Royal Court statement said.
Speaking at the Palace of Westminster, King Abdullah said the region witnessed
an alarming increase in the frequency and intensity of crises and that new
problems were occurring alongside other important changes in Middle East
environment, “opening the door to extremists and expansionist actors”.
The King, who was accompanied by Queen Rania, told members of parliament and
diplomats that walking away from these challenges was not an option because
their impact extends to every corner of the world. “We must confront these
dangers, think in new ways about how peace and progress can be achieved — and
act,” the Monarch said (see the full text of his remarks).
He added that the international community and countries in the Middle East must
together seek nonmilitary solutions to the conflicts of the region because
“force is a recipe for failure”.
If violence in Palestinian territories and Iraq are not checked, he said, the
world and the people of the region “can expect a situation that is far more
radical… and many more years of violence”.
Meanwhile, King Abdullah warned of a conflagration in the Middle East over the
next year if the Palestinian-Israeli peace process was not revived.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the King said the biggest risks were
an escalation in violence in the occupied Palestinian territories and renewed
fighting in Lebanon, both already troubled by rising tensions.
“There’s a 9- to 12-month crisis cycle in the Middle East and it is getting
shorter and shorter,” the King said.
The King said radicals were “feeling emboldened while moderates are in a weak
position”. King Abdullah said there was now an Arab and Muslim group working to
push forward the peace process on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative, which
offered Israel normal relations with Arab countries in return for Israel’s
withdrawal from occupied Arab lands. The King said a clearer idea of what Israel
might be willing to do would only come after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s visit
to Washington later this month.
King Abdullah was speaking during a two-day official visit to the UK which
included separate talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of
the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Middle East developments and bilateral ties. He
also addressed UK business leaders attending a forum on business opportunities
in Jordan. He was joined by the Duke of York Prince Andrew, Britain’s special
representative for international trade and investment.
King Abdullah and Queen Rania, who met on Monday with Prince Charles, the Prince
of Wales, were later due to meet Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, according
to the statement.