Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Jordanian King to 'Times': Peace Plan with Ultimatums to Obama, Netanyahu

The Media Line

Jordan’s King Abdallah II said in an interview with the London Times that in his speech in Cairo on June 4, U.S. President Barack Obama would unveil a Middle East peace plan worked out by the president and the monarch. he plan is based on the 2002 Arab initiative which calls for Israel to abandon all land seized in the 1967 War, internationalize Jerusalem and provide a right of return for Arabs who fled Israel in 1948. The key difference, according to Abdallah, is a series of “immediate” incentives that will be offered to Israel, including allowing its national carrier to fly over Arab lands and the ability for Israeli citizens to receive visas to visit Arab countries. But the King avoided questions about the status of Jerusalem and the right of return, both issues that are considered deal-breakers in Israel. Abdullah did turn up the pressure on both Obama and on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, issuing ultimatums to each. For Netanyahu, it was the presentation of the plan as a last shot at peace, regarding which Abdallah said he agreed with those who say it will take a right-wing Israeli government to achieve. The monarch challenged Obama, saying that anything short of a forceful embrace of the peace plan and the implementation of a two-state solution would leave Arabs disillusioned with the president and cost him his credibility in the Arab world. On the shoulders of both men, the king lay his prediction that absent the successful implementation of this plan, violence between Israel and Arabs was only 12-18 months away.

Comment: Of course the King does not want the Arabs now living in the disputed territories to join the rest of the 70% Jordanian population identified as "Palestinians". His "rule" is tenuous at best and to have to deal with this 2 million plus group would set the stage for his reign to be over. yet, in the original scheme this was the designated plan-2 states, one an Arab state, one for Israel.

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