Jordan's King says peace hopes dimming
Fri Feb 23, 4:09 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Jordan's King Abdullah II said in remarks broadcast Friday that prospects for Mideast peace were dwindling, and the latest window of opportunity might be the last.
"We find ourselves at this very important crossroads ... that I do feel really is the last opportunity for peace for all of us," Abdullah told
Israel's Channel 2 TV, in an excerpt from an interview to be broadcast in full on Saturday.
"I think that the opportunities that we have are diminishing, the frequency of conflict is rising rapidly in the Middle East," the king said.
With renewed international interest in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following Israel's war last year against Hezbollah guerrillas, "this is the golden opportunity that is in front of all of us," Abdullah said.
Ending Israeli-Palestinian hostilities would, in turn, lead "to a greater stability between Israelis and Arabs," he added.
Earlier this week, Abdullah urged the U.S. to keep trying to broker a final Israeli-Palestinian accord. Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Friday that his faction will not budge from its commitment to Israel's destruction. Hamas' political leader Khaled Mashaal blamed the U.S. for the failure of the international community to lift the crippling financial embargo on the Palestinians.
The future of peace efforts has been called into question by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' recent power-sharing pact with Hamas. Western powers, led by the U.S. and backed by Israel, have said they won't lift international sanctions against the Palestinians unless the new unity government explicitly recognizes Israel, disarms and recognizes existing Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.
The outline of the new government's platform only mentions "respect" for existing peace pacts.