Haaretz
Adar 12, 5767
AMMAN - Jordan's King
Abdullah II said Friday that Israel must choose between the mentality of
Israel as a fortress, or living in peace and security with its
neighbors.
Interviewed on state television before his departure for
the United States, the king said the United States was the country most
capable of influencing Israel.
"It is time that the [U.S.] employ
this influence to prove its transparency to the people of the region, and
that it is not biased, Abdullah said.
The king, who has long urged
America to make a greater effort on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process,
is likely to make the same point when he addresses the U.S. Congress on
Wednesday.
"The Middle East faces two choices - either the choice
of peace or the choice of chaos, violence and destruction," the king told
Jordanian television, to which he rarely gives interviews.
He said
that a solution to the Palestinian problem would spare the region disaster
and chaos. Referring to the United States, he said: "It is our duty to
push this great state, and others, to take balanced positions and support
the peace process."
Abdullah said that he realized that Washington
was preoccupied with Iraq, and said Jordan too wanted to see
reconciliation and stability in Iraq.
But, the king added, "the
principle problem in the region is the Palestinian issue and, if it is not
solved, it will be impossible to solve the other problems."
On
Jordanian affairs, Abdullah sought to assure Jordanians that the
legislative and municipal elections due later this year would be held on
time.
There have been reports that the polls would be delayed.
In Washington, the king is expected to hold talks with President
George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.