Monday, May 11, 2009

King Abdullah of Jordan's ultimatum: peace now or it’s war next year

From The London Times:

King Abdullah of Jordan's ultimatum: peace now or it’s war next year
From The Times
May 11, 2009
by Richard Beeston and Michael Binyon in Amman


America is putting the final touches to a hugely ambitious peace plan for the Middle East, aimed at ending more than 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Arabs, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah, who is helping to bring the parties together.

The Obama Administration is pushing for a comprehensive peace agreement that would include settling Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its territorial disputes with Syria and Lebanon, King Abdullah II told The Times. Failure to reach agreement at this critical juncture would draw the world into a new Middle East war next year. “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months,” the King said.

Details of the plan are likely to be thrashed out in a series of diplomatic moves this month. Chief among them is President Obama’s meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister, in Washington a week today. The initiative could form the centrepiece for Mr Obama’s much-anticipated address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4. A peace conference could then take place involving all the parties as early as July or August. Such an ambitious project has not been attempted since 1991, when George Bush senior’s Administration assembled all the parties for a peace conference in Madrid.

“What we are talking about is not Israelis and Palestinians sitting at the table, but Israelis sitting with Palestinians, Israelis sitting with Syrians, Israelis sitting with Lebanese,” said the King, who hatched the plan with Mr Obama in Washington last month. He added that, if Mr Obama did not make good his promise for peace, then his credibility would evaporate overnight.


Rest of article at link above.

With Netenyahu being elected in Israel, and America's unquestioned devotion to the 51st State, color me skeptical.

1 comment:

Brian said...

I see no major conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbor States. It's not worth it for them (Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon). But we may continue to see the smaller, regional clashes between Israel and the Terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah.

However the chance of a war between Israel the U.S. and Iran (Persians) is quite high.

There will be no peace in the Middle East with the current leadership in Israel. None Period! It's not possible under Netanyahu and everyone knows it. But Clinton, the Middle East Quartet w/ Tony Blair (EU, UN, Russia, & the U.S.), and George Mitchell... are just going through the motions so that if and when Netanyahu's government falls apart (and I pray it does.... it's already going to be weak), then they will be able to move ahead with a plan quickly once a new Prime Minister is in place. It's a waiting game right now... There will be more work behind the scenes at this point... with everyone waiting for the day that Netanyahu is gone.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is already planning to fry bigger fish....(including the U.S.). He will very likely launch a war against Iran and drag the U.S. into a very serious conflict (that could draw in other nations).

All of Obama's domestic ambitions will be shot to Hell because of his foreign policy of playing lapdog to Israel and playing global cop in other parts of the World. People think Obama's Presidency is riding on domestic policies... but it's also riding on his foreign policy...perhaps even more.

By not being clear with Israel about what we will and will not tolerate from Netanyahu and his government, Obama is providing a green light to Israels hardliners.