Jordan's King Abdullah: Peace Now Or War Next Year

King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein of Jordan

Netanyahu Meeting With Obama Decides Mid-East’s Future, Says Abdullah -- Times Online

President Obama’s critical meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu next week has become the acid test for the Administration’s commitment to peace in the Middle East, King Abdullah of Jordan said yesterday.

The monarch does not conceal his feelings about the Israeli leader. He described their last encounter – 10 years ago when he had just come to the throne – as the “least pleasant” of his reign. But he, and President Mubarak of Egypt, are expected to meet the Israeli leader before his trip to Washington, where the future course of the region could be decided.

The King said that he was prepared to believe what Israelis have told him — that a right-wing Government in Israel is better able to deliver peace than the Left.

“All eyes will be looking to Washington,” he said. “If there are no clear signals and no clear directives to all of us, there will be a feeling that this is just another American Government that is going to let us all down.”

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Full Interview With King Abdullah: King Abdullah: 'This is not a two-state solution, it is a 57-state solution' -- Times Online

My Comment: I agree with King Abdullah's assessment on the probability of another Arab - Israeli war in the Middle East within the year. So much hate and distrust has been built between the two sides that any hope for some form of reconciliation is next to impossible at the present time.

Is President Obama the man to bring about some form of reconciliation .... I would like to hope so but I am very skeptical. He is popular with the Arab community, but his relations with Israel are tenuous at best, and recent comments on what Israel must do to push the peace process forward have not been helpful.

Iran's development of nuclear weapons and its open support for Hamas and Hezbollah further poisons the peace process. If one large faction (if not the majority) of the Palestinian community is dedicated to the destruction of Israel .... I find it hard to believe that any peace is remotely feasible.