Jordan’s King Abdullah II during his meeting on Thursday with Colin Powell offered the kingdom's help in easing the suffering of Palestinians in the West Bank once a cease-fire is in place.
"People are dying. People are suffering," the king told CNN. He said he offered Powell his kingdom's support in his peace mission, which he called "a make-it or break-it trip."
Abdullah urged Powell to increase pressure on Sharon to withdraw his troops and to accept Arafat as "the legitimate leadership and elected president of the Palestinian people," the royal palace said in a statement issued in Amman after Abdullah's two-hour meeting with Powell.
The king urged Powell to work toward a detailed peace plan setting "specific time frames" for a Palestinian state as well as ending the violence and Israeli occupation.
“His Majesty expressed Jordan's deep anger at what is going on in the Palestinian territories and stressed the need for an immediate [Israeli] withdrawal,” Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher told a joint press conference with Powell.
The King told Powell that Israel's destruction of Palestinian towns, establishments and the Palestinian National Authority's infrastructure will necessitate urgent international reconstruction efforts.
“Jordan has always been -- with Egypt and many other of the moderate countries -- an element that brings people together. We are in specific discussions with Arafat to give him the support, to give him the mandate to be able to have the leeway,” the king told CNN
Asked about the U.S. war against terrorism, the king said “Jordan has always stood against terrorism and extremism. We have always been a country that never has condoned acts of violence and always has supported a platform that goes against the loss of innocent lives.”
Asked if he believed that the Palestinian suicide bombings of civilians is justified, the monarch replied “I personally do not. And I've always stood against the loss of life, terrorism and extremism in all its forms. Me, as a person. But there is a feeling, whether rightly or wrongly, in the Arab street that [suicide bombings] are the only mechanism that the Palestinians have in retaliating.”
“When a 16-year-old girl blows herself up, there's a problem there. And we have to solve the problem,” Abdullah commented. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
