King Abdullah II at Congress pleas for peace in Palestine

Wednesday March 07, 2007 19:01 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC

US must play a constructive role in ME peace

In a speech before the Congress, King Abdullah II of Jordan said that peace in the Middle East should be achieved, not next year or in five years, but this year.

King Abdullah II of Jordan

In a speech before the Congress, King Abdullah II of Jordan said that peace in the Middle East should be achieved, not next year or in five years, but this year.

King Abdullah reiterated the Arab peace initiative and described it as the dream of every Israeli citizen since the creation of Israel.

The Arab initiative for peace proposed a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in exchange of a full normalization with Israel and comprehensive peace treaty and diplomatic relations with all the Arab countries.

The initiative, which was originally proposed by Saudi Arabia, was approved by all the Arab countries in Beirut’s summit in March 2002, but was strongly rejected by Israel.

The Jordanian Monarch has repeatedly stressed that the US should play a constructive role in peace in the Middle East reciting the Camp David accord of 1979, Madrid peace conference of 1991 and the Wye River memorandum of 1997 which all were held under US supervision.

King Abdullah said that all these agreements and peace initiatives were reached only when “the US determined to do it.”

However, King Abdullah failed to mention the wall and the settlements Israel is constructing inside the West Bank which threaten to swallow nearly half of the Palestinian land.

On the other hand, the Jordanian King who received several long and loud applauses said that until peace is found in the Middle East, “We will all be at risk.”

King Abdullah stressed that peace for the Palestinians means peace for the Israelis and the entire region as well.

He also attriubted much of Jordan's development to the help of the United States government and people.

international | peace process | news report george at imemc dot org