Interview with His Majesty King Abdullah II
"Jordan's King to tell Bush: Delay Iraq, lean on Israel"
King Abdullah of Jordan will this week challenge President Bush to live up to his promise of a Palestinian state by urging him to produce a Middle East “action plan” with firm deadlines and timetables.
He will tell Mr Bush that unless emergency aid is sent to relieve suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, desperation will push more Palestinians into extremism and terrorism. In an interview with The Times, the King made clear that when he meets Mr Bush on Wednesday he will demand full backing for Colin Powell, the embattled US Secretary of State, against the Pentagon hawks who are “fixated on Iraq”. He gave a warning that any American action against Iraq would open a “Pandora's box” in the Middle East.
The King will also admit that Arab countries must do more to flesh out their own peace proposals which, he says, offer Israel far more than Washington or Jerusalem realise. Arab Governments must now make clear that they will guarantee “everything that Israel wants from them”.
In an extraordinary, wide-ranging interview, King Abdullah criticised Mr Bush's call for Yasser Arafat's removal, saying that this only boosted the Palestinian leader's popularity and set back Palestinian moves to oust him.
The King gave his interview in his residence outside London as he began another busy round of diplomacy against the backdrop of worsening violence in the Middle East and fears that Washington is now too preoccupied with the coming congressional elections to act.
He said he intended to use Mr Bush's call for a Palestinian state as the basis for an action plan and a logical sequence for Arabs and Israelis to follow. “Saying `In three years' time you're going to have a Palestinian state and total peace between Israel and the Arab world' sounds great. But if we don't set up timetables and hurdles to hold both sides accountable, three years from now we're not going to be much further down the line.”
He will call on Mr Bush to work with Russia, the European Union and the United Nations to create confidence-building measures leading to a full ministerial meeting.
The King criticised the “enemies of peace” among Israelis and Palestinians. But he said that people on both sides realised they were getting ever closer to the abyss. He reiterated Jordan's commitment to cracking down on terrorism but suggested that Saudi Arabia lacked experience in dealing with intelligence issues. He voiced strong concern that factions in Iran were increasing support for Hamas, posing a greater threat than Iraq.
