Jordan king calls on Israel to move for peace

Jordan King Abdullah II to Israel: stop illegal settlement activity in occupied East Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM - The impasse in the Middle East peace process is sending the region back "into the darkness," Jordan's King Abdullah II said in an interview with an Israeli daily, parts of which were published Thursday.

"We're sliding back into the darkness," Abdullah told the left-leaning Haaretz, which is due to run the entire interview on Friday.

The monarch, who heads one of only two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, said that establishing a Palestinian state was key to a wider peace deal to end the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict.

"Is Israel going to be fortress Israel or is it going to be part of the neighborhood? Because if there is no two-state solution, what future do we all have together?

"Show me the future of Israel 10 years from now. Where do you want Israel to be vis-a-vis its relationship with Jordan and other Arab countries?

"I understand that you tend to live in the here and now. You are worried about the next threat. It is difficult for an Israeli to look into the future because of the security aspect. But if there is peace and stability, then people can look into the future."

Abdullah also warned Israel to stop illegal settlement activity in Palestinian East Jerusalem, which it occupied in its 1967 war against its neighbors.

Jerusalem is "a tinderbox that will have a major flashpoint throughout the Islamic world," he said.

"It is important to understand the need of ending all settlement activities and other unilateral actions that threaten the identity of the Holy City."

Israel's extremist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman waved aside Abdullah's comments.

"For King Abdullah, the Palestinian question is of utmost importance, which is not the case for Israel," Lieberman told public radio. "I would have liked a more objective approach from him on the dangers threatening the region.

Palestinian East Jerusalem has been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.

Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognized as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.

East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.

In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.

Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.