CAIRO: Jordan s King Abdullah II arrived in Cairo Sunday on a tour aimed at relaunching the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The monarch, who began his tour in Egypt before heading to Saudi Arabia, Britain and the United States discussed the violence in Iraq and ways to end it, a statement from the Hashemite Royal Palace said. On Tuesday he will fly from Saudi Arabia to Britain for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, before leaving on a working visit to the United States. Last Tuesday the king met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Amman and urged Israel and the United States to focus on reviving the peace process, which has been effectively stalled since the launch of the Palestinian intifada in 2000. The most recent international Middle East peace plan, the so-called road map, has been dead in the water since its launch in summer 2003. King Abdullah warned in an interview to be broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2 television Saturday that current efforts to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process were last-chance.
We find ourselves at this very important crossroads, in all our lives, in all our futures, whether it is Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian or Israeli-Arab, he said in excerpts of the interview released on Friday. Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, and Amman has played a central role in efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians in recent years. The way the dynamics are changing is that we will find ourselves in a very short period of time with never being able to push for a two-state solution, the king told Channel 2.
If we never have a two-state [solution] then can we ever have peace between Israel and Arabs? he asked. That instability is something that we will all pay for the rest of our lives.
