gulfnews : The line of no return
US has failed to realise that without solving the core Mideast problem other challenges wll continue to mushroom
- By Osama Al Sharif, Special to Gulf News
challenges will continue to mushroom
- By Osama Al Sharif, Special to Gulf News
- King Abdullah of Jordan brushed off Israeli promoters of the so-called Jordan Option, or Jordan is Palestine, and reiterated his belief that the only path that the world must focus on is the two-state solution.
- Image Credit: AP
From the snow-capped mountains of Davos, Switzerland, King Abdullah of Jordan has sent a clear and an unequivocal response to those calling for a Jordanian role in the West Bank within the framework of a future settlement. He told his interviewer, in a televised dialogue at the World Economic Forum, that Jordan will never assume such role and that the Jordanian military will not replace the Israeli army and deny Palestinians their aspiration for a viable state of their own.
The king brushed off Israeli promoters of the so-called Jordan Option, or Jordan is Palestine, and reiterated his belief that the only path that the world must focus on is the two-state solution. A close ally of the US and a vocal supporter of the creation of an independent Palestinian state, the young king told Fareed Zakaria of CNN and Newsweek that he was pessimistic for the first time about the prospects of finding a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He kept going back to the Palestinian question as the core of Middle East and regional instability tying it to the rise of terrorist movements in the Arab and Muslim worlds, to the increasing frustration of the region's youth and to the perceived threats coming from Iran.
He also appeared to admonish the US and the Obama administration, for failing to move forcefully on the issue. He said that unless a clear mandate is adopted by the US within the coming month, US credibility will be questioned. A month is a short time indeed for Washington to re-examine its positions and heed the king's call by issuing a clear mandate on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the peace process.
But Abdullah, who has exhibited keen understanding of the Palestine question and regional conflicts in the past, spoke from a position of authority and knowledge. He wanted the US to appreciate the element of time less than two months before the next Arab Summit convenes. He hoped the US would understand that without solving the Palestinian issue, other challenges in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Iran and elsewhere will continue to fester.
The king warned of crossing an invisible line after which the viability of the two-state solution will suffer, allowing militants and extremists on all fronts to pounce and further destabilise the region. Again he referred to the Israel-Palestine issue as the core and that failing to resolve it will only give extreme forces the ammunition they need to recruit young and disenfranchised Arabs and Muslims to the cause of militancy. Moreover, he linked such failure to growing fears of the rise of Iranian role and influence in the region. ....
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The question then remains: How far are we from crossing that invisible line of no return? By expressing his pessimism the king certainly believes that we are almost there. His frustration is understandable. The Obama administration has failed to live up to its promises. US President Barack Obama had omitted the Middle East peace process from his recent State of the Union address and focused only on Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.
But the king knows what we all believe in and have repeated time and again; without solving the core problem of the Middle East, other geopolitical challenges will continue to mushroom. The US is the only party that has failed to realise this. ..
Barak: Peace With Palestinians Or Apartheid
(AP) JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister warned Tuesday that if Israel does not achieve a peace deal with the Palestinians, it will be either a binational state or an undemocratic apartheid state.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak's comments came in an address to a security conference north of Tel Aviv.
Israeli leaders rarely use the term "apartheid" in connection to the Palestinians. The term, however, has been used by Israel's harshest critics to accuse it of using apartheid tactics against the Palestinians.
"The simple truth is, if there is one state" including Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, "it will have to be either binational or undemocratic. ... if this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state."
Barak called for an immediate resumption of peace talks on all outstanding issues, appealing to the Palestinians to drop their demand for a halt in construction in Israel's West Bank settlements first.
Speaking after Barak, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said he agreed with Barak about the goal, but he rejected his call to drop the condition, which he said is part of the internationally backed "road map" peace blueprint from 2003. ...
USA cannot influence Israel about the 1967 borders - Abbas - RT
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MA: Let’s put it this way – what new did we propose to the American administration?
Our ideas are twofold: the US should convince Israel that in order to resume talks it should stop its settlement activities, at least for a certain period of time; Israel should also recognize decisions of international organizations. If Israel agrees to that, we can restart the talks. Our second idea is that we achieved a lot in the negotiations with the Olmert government and Bush administration, and now we need to put these agreements into practice. We agreed that it is necessary to go back to the borders established in 1967, including the exchanges that we have discussed many times, proposing our own ideas and looking at the ideas suggested by Israel.
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... Now, we have no basis for resuming the negotiations. The USA cannot influence Israel about the 1967 borders.
RT: Mr. President, do you think it’s possible to negotiate with the Israeli government and whether they want talks in your opinion?
MA: I would not like the affair to be presented in such an absolute form: whether they want it or not. I suggest that people should judge this. I don’t want to tell the people that this man does not want peace, does not want negotiations. Here are his viewpoints and his thoughts.
I don’t want to impose anything on anyone. Let them fulfill this resolution. These were resolutions adopted by the world community and they don’t need to be adjusted to someone’s wishes. However, they are choosing from different resolutions for themselves, what is called “pick-and-choose” in English, it’s unacceptable for us. You either accept the resolutions or you don’t.
RT: Netanyahu spoke about it from the UN tribune saying: “If Arabs in due time had agreed with decisions of the world community, the situation now would have been different…’
MA: Right, let’s turn over a new leaf and start from scratch. In 1988 we declared at the National Assembly session that we accept resolutions 242 and 338, and that we are willing to build an independent Arab state on the territories occupied in 1967. Isn’t it clear? Let me remind you that before 1988 every Israeli governor coming to power said that: “Once Palestinians adopt resolution 242, we leave at once”. They wanted to load us with all the troubles about making peace. On the other hand, Israel was the first state against American-Palestinian dialogue.
We adopted Oslo’s treaty which lists six clauses and adoption of resolution 242 is the first one. Then Netanyahu refused to talk and Barack refused too. How can we cooperate if parliament makes a decision by the majority of voices and the government does not fulfill it? This means the state has no self- respect.
Netanyahu said that Arabs always refuse. Fine, we did refuse and were wrong. Forgive us! And take us back, we admit it! But I know he was sure that Palestinians would have never agreed to that; and he built his policy on our non-admitting. But we admitted our fault and he had to stop speaking. They all got infuriated about our dialogue with the USA.
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