His Majesty King Abdullah II
Transcript of interview with FOX News
April 18, 2002
Amman, Jordan
JON SCOTT: The king of Jordan has some thoughts about Colin Powell’s push for peace in the Middle East.
Our own David Lee Miller spoke with him just this morning. David Lee?
DAVID LEE MILLER: Good morning, Jon. That’s right. A few minutes ago, we left the royal palace and it was there that we talked with King Abdullah of Jordan. He of course met with Colin Powell during the secretary’s visit here to the region and he made a number of very important points. He said that the Israelis must withdraw from the West Bank. He underscored -- emphasized that point and he also went on to talk about Colin Powell’s visit, saying that he exerted in his words now, "a tremendous effort," and he also said that Americans have a distorted view of what is happening here in the Middle East.
Now, when it comes to Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit, he says that he would rate the Secretary somewhere between success and failure, but more on the plus side.
HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH: Well, we’re disappointed with the setback. I believe that Secretary of State Powell was hoping that he could get an immediate Israeli withdrawal, which would have allowed the Israelis and Palestinians to sit around the table. That is taking a bit longer and I believe that the secretary of state will be voicing his opinion to the president today in hope that they can cajole the Israelis to moving on pulling the army out as quickly as possible.
MILLER: The king also said that the United States during the past few weeks has lost prestige here in the Middle East. He says that there is a perception in the Arab world and on the Arab street here most especially that the United States favors the Israeli perspective. He says that he knows that that is not true and that in his words Colin Powell, the secretary of state is a fair man, but he says that many Americans have a distorted view about what is happening here and that they are unaware of what is taking place regarding the conflict.
KING ABDULLAH: I don’t think that American viewers see the images that we have been watching. It’s always an Israeli who is murdered and a Palestinian who is killed. The images of Israelis being hurt by extremism, but not the other way around and so there is maybe a feeling that Israel is the victim. Both sides are victims in this. There’s no one side who is righter than the other.
MILLER: The king in the past had repeatedly cautioned the U.S. against any assault on Iraq and he took the opportunity of our meeting today to emphasize that point as well. He said that in view of the events now unfolding between the Israelis and the Palestinians, a U.S. assault on Saddam Hussein would be a mistake.
KING ABDULLAH: Well, I think at this stage if anybody has any sensitivity to what’s going on between Israelis and Palestinians that the mention of Iraq sounds somewhat ludicrous at this stage. We have a tremendous crisis going on with the Palestinians and I think all the attention is focused on the people under occupation at the moment that to bring up the subject of Iraq now seems completely out there.
MILLER: And Jon the king also said that despite the ongoing conflict, his country is going to continue the same level of diplomatic ties it has now with Israel, this despite the fact that many here, especially again on the street, people are saying that diplomatic ties between the two countries should be severed.
We’ll have more on the king’s interview throughout the day. Back to you.
SCOTT: All right. David Lee Miller, interesting stuff. We’ll look forward to more of that. Thank you.