King Abdulla II of Jordan
Photo: AFP
Jordan’s king: Mideast peace prospects in 2011 slim
King Abdulla says recent failed efforts to reignite peace talks 'all but doomed chances for breakthrough in the near future'
King Abdulla II of Jordan is fairly pessimistic about the chances to see the Israeli-Palestinian peace process come to fruition in 2011.
The monarch, who is a key US ally and the leader of one of only two Arab countries to sign peace treaties with Israel, said that Israel's increasingly conservative political climate "has rendered its government incapable of making the kinds of meaningful concessions needed for peace."
In an interview with the Washington Post, Jordan’s king said the United States' the failed efforts to reignite the Middle East peace talks in May "has all but doomed chances for a breakthrough in the near future."
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Abdulla further warned that a prolonged statement might cause the outbreak of a new armed uprising in the Palestinian territories.
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“2011 will be, I think, a very bad year for peace,” Abdullah told the newspaper. “Although we will continue to try to bring both sides to the table, I am the most pessimistic I have been in 11 years.”
The king said that in his opinion, the "Arab Spring movement had opened a unique window to a possible peace deal, an opportunity that the two sides have failed to seize."
"The window will soon close," he warned, "and Israel will inevitably find itself surrounded by increasingly hostile Arab governments as politicians in newly democratic states seek to exploit popular resentments.
“When there’s a status quo, usually what shakes everybody up is some sort of military confrontation, at which point we all come running and screaming to pick up the pieces,” he said.
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