King calls for rescuing Middle East peace talks

AMMAN (JT) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Saturday stressed the importance of salvaging peace negotiations to ensure regional security, cautioning against catastrophic consequences that may erupt in an environment of frustration and tension.

The King made the remarks in the keynote address he delivered yesterday at the regional security summit, the “7th Manama Dialogue”, organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).

“Our region will not enjoy security and stability unless we solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and Arabs, Muslims and Israelis find peace,” said King Abdullah, who returned home later in the day.

In his address, he emphasized that Arabs are committed to achieving comprehensive peace within a regional context.

“We are committed. The Arab Peace Initiative offers more than just an end of conflict. It offers a lasting peace that will allow Israel to have normal relations with 57 Arab and Muslim countries, and will free our region from the threat of war and conflict,” the King told the attendees.

The international gathering on regional security was attended by prime ministers, foreign and defense ministers as well as defense chiefs and strategists on regional issues.

The King cautioned that the opportunity for peace will not last forever in light of demographic and geographic changes, the statement said.

“This opportunity cannot last forever. Geographic and demographic changes are threatening the essence of the initiative: a two state solution, which will guarantee the Palestinians the freedom and statehood they have long been denied, and will ensure for Israel the security it seeks,” he said.

“The stakes are high. As a solution continues to elude us, faith in negotiations, as the only path to peace and justice, is eroding. And if hope is killed, radical forces will prevail,” he explained.

“The region will sink into more vicious warfare and instability, threatening security far beyond the borders of the Middle East,” he added.

“This is why it is essential that we rescue the new round of negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis,” the King said.

On the peace talks, he said they were launched in Washington in last September, against a backdrop of pessimism.

“We all knew how difficult it was to restore trust between the parties, and move forward. But we also knew that a vacuum in peace efforts will be too costly and we hoped that all sides had realized that the status quo could not be sustained. That it only means sliding into darkness.”

“But the talks hit a major deadlock even before they got to address the substantive issues,” the King said in his address.

“Israel would not extend the moratorium on settlement building. And the Palestinians could not remain engaged in negotiations, while new settlements were changing facts on the ground, and compromising the viability of the future Palestinian state.”

Noting that there is still hope, His Majesty said: “We can, and must, end the deadlock. To do so, we do not need new solutions. We need will, we need commitment, and we need courage to make hard decisions.”

“Only through such serious negotiations, will we get to the endgame: an independent and viable Palestinian state, living side by side a secure Israel, that is accepted and accepting, in a region of peace,” he added.

The King emphasized that the alternative is new conflicts that will reverberate far beyond the borders of the Middle East and threaten the strategic national interests of the US, Europe and all the international community which will be involved in regional confrontations that will erupt in this environment of frustration and tension.

He stressed the importance of joining efforts to arrive at peace, adding that “there is no excuse for politics-as-usual” to face present challenges.

“Our region has been at the nexus of world events for thousands of years. Today, the world’s future, as well as its past, meets here,” he noted.

“Not only our countries, but the entire global community will be shaped by the roads we take, to bring economic and political empowerment to millions of young people, to ensure that moderation and respect triumph over division and aggression, to expand opportunities and prosperity across our societies,” the King continued.

“And it won’t be enough to avoid the dangers. We must also move ahead with positive action.”

For a better future, King Abdullah noted that more and better jobs must be created and higher standards of living must be made available for more people, whose skills and knowledge must be enriched, adding that an end to the heavy price of wars and division are not only social concerns but the basis of national security policies.

Underlining the strengths of the Arab world, he said it has tremendous resources and human potentials, a long history of global engagement, and a deep heritage of social responsibility and justice.

“These are tools that we can use, and must use, to shape the Middle East of the future. In all this, united effort is key,” he said.

In reply to a question on the consequences in the case of failure to achieve peace, the Monarch said: “I think in two words: absolute disaster.”

“But I believe that there is still a window of opportunity. Where the Israelis and the Palestinians will go will depend on the United States,” he added.

The King said the US administration is working to bring the Israelis and the Palestinians indirectly to Washington in the near future and hoped these efforts will lead to results which can be expanded to achieve progress.

“If Israelis make the wrong decision, all of us, including all of our friends in the West are going to pay a massive price for that,” the King warned.

His Majesty explained that Israel has to decide, whether it will be fortress Israel, or a part of the region, a democratic state or a state of apartheid.

On the sidelines of the conference, the King met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a Royal Court statement said.

Discussions addressed efforts to overcome obstacles preventing the resumption of serious and effective Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

On Friday, the Monarch held talks with Bahrain’s King Hamad Ben Isa Al Khalifah on issues of mutual concern, bilateral ties and the developments in the region, the Royal Court said.

They stressed the need for Arab cooperation to face mutual challenges for the benefit of the entire region.

5 December 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=32330.