JORDAN’S KINGLET REBUKES ISRAEL….SEE NOTE
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052702304017404575166203380829336.html#printMode
Someone should remind the little twit that he rules over 80% of Palestine; that there was never….repeat…never a Hashemite dynasty associated with Palestine and the Palarabs know this and will point their guns at Amman if they get a state in Judea and Samaria. His smarter and pluckier old man who preferred dumb blondes from America understood this and had a perfectly workable “de facto” accommodation with Israel that worked for both countries until the “peace processors” screwed it up….rsk
By JAY SOLOMON
AMMAN—Jordan’s King Abdullah II said he will urge the Obama administration next week to impose on Israel the terms and timeline for new peace talks with the Palestinians, as concerns mount inside his government that the stalled dialogue could fuel a new round of violence in the Middle East that targets moderate Arab states.
Jordan’s leader also delivered in an interview Monday with The Wall Street Journal a rebuke of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, charging that his policy of building homes for Jewish families in East Jerusalem has pushed Jordanian-Israeli relations to their lowest point since a 1994 peace treaty.
King Abdullah said he and other moderate Arab leaders are increasingly doubtful that Mr. Netanyahu is capable of making the concessions needed to create an independent Palestinian state—requiring a direct intervention by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Former President Bill Clinton outlined the terms for peace talks during his second term: In 2000, he established “parameters” that held both sides to focusing on creating an independent Palestinian state based on the pre-June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem serving as the capital.
During a 40-minute conversation at his limestone offices in western Amman, King Abdullah said, “I met Benjamin Netanyahu…this time last year. I was extremely optimistic by the vision he had for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the Israelis and the Arabs.”
“However, I have to say, that over the past 12 months, everything I’ve seen on the ground has made me extremely skeptical,” the king added. “And, I believe I’m one of the more optimistic people you’ll find in this part of the world.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s government challenged the statements by the Jordanian monarch.
“If anyone looks at what Prime Minister Netanyahu has done since coming into office, he’s taken unprecedented steps” on behalf of peace, said an Israeli official, citing Israel’s partial moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank and the lifting of movement restrictions on Palestinians. “To ignore that and say that this government has done nothing is simply untrue.”
King Abdullah’s call for Mr. Obama to essentially dictate the terms for Israeli-Palestinian talks is feeding into a policy debate in Washington over how hard to push Mr. Netanyahu.
Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu held a chilly face-to-face meeting last month at the White House that was aimed at ending a public U.S.-Israeli feud over the steps required to re-launch Mideast peace talks.
The U.S. has been pressing Israel to end all building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But Mr. Netanyahu’s government has repeatedly rebuffed the U.S.’s demands, and angered Washington last month by announcing two separate construction plans for East Jerusalem.
U.S. and Israeli officials are currently discussing other ways to create confidence-building steps that could underpin the peace process, such as easing Israel’s economic blockade on the Gaza strip and releasing Palestinian prisoners. But Arab leaders at a summit in Libya last month again demanded a total building freeze before endorsing new talks.
“The American administration is gearing to come down and put very strong parameters to move the process forward. But when is that going to happen?” King Abdullah said.
King Abdullah is scheduled to leave for Washington this weekend to attend President Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit.
Jordanian officials said they expect the king to hold a meeting with Mr. Obama next week.
A senior U.S. official working on Mideast policy said Monday that the Obama administration has the right to set the terms for the negotiations but didn’t expect any imminent announcement.
“It’s something that still remains possible,” the official said.
Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab states to conclude peace treaties with Israel. Mr. Abdullah’s late father, King Hussein, signed the agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, fueling hopes of Jordanian-Israeli economic cooperation and a broader normalization of diplomatic ties between the Jewish state and other Arab countries.
Mr. Rabin, however, was assassinated by an Israeli rejectionist in 1995 and many Jordanian officials call their relations with Israel a “cold peace.”
King Abdullah said Mr. Netanyahu’s actions over the past year have brought their two countries’ bilateral relations to a new low. The Jordanian monarch said people-to-people exchanges between their two countries are virtually nonexistent and that cross-border business has largely dried up.
“The political trust is gone….Economically, we were better off in trade and in movement before my father signed the peace treaty,” King Abdullah said.
—Joshua Mitnick in Tel Aviv contributed to this article.
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