|
Jordan's
King Warns U.S. Against Move On Iraq
 |
| Abdullah
sees attacking Iraq as destabilizing for the region |
WASHINGTON,
Feb. 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Jordan's King Abdullah II is
scheduled to meet today with President George W. Bush at the White House for
discussions about the current turmoil in the Middle East and the U.S.-led war on
“terrorism”.
On
the eve of the meeting, the Jordanian monarch cautioned the Bush administration
against new military attacks on Iraq. "I think that the Middle East has
taken some tremendous shocks as it is already,” Abdullah said during an
interview on CBS-TV's "The Early Show."
"And
I think that it would be very difficult, especially with the continuing violence
between the Palestinians and the Israelis and the frustration the [Arab
world]...feels that, if Iraq is targeted, I think it would create immense
instability in the whole region.''
Bush
cited Iraq, Iran and North Korea this week for abetting terrorism or amassing
weapons of mass destruction, lumping them together in his State of the Union
address. Several senior officials, led by under secretary Wolfowitz, reportedly
favor U.S. military efforts to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
After
his first meeting with Bush in Washington last fall, Abdullah claimed that the
administration had given him assurances that they would not make any major
attacks against Iraq. Washington later denied that such promises had been made.
Abdullah
will also be discussing the spiraling political violence between Israel and the
Palestinians. The administration has strongly supported the stance of hard-line
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who will meet Bush next week for the fourth
time in less than a year, while Arafat is kept at arms length.
Washington
is reportedly considering ending contacts with Arafat for his alleged failure to
end attacks by activists against Israel.
The
Jordanian monarch will ask the United States to pressure Israel into easing its
blockade against Palestinian territories and lift a travel ban on Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat who is confined by Israel at his West Bank headquarters
of Ramallah, the officials said.
"We
are facing one of the region's most difficult stages. The complicated situation
that the Palestinian cause finds itself in is at the forefront of these
difficulties," Abdullah said. He added Israel had taken advantage of the
U.S. campaign against terror to wreck the Middle East peace process.
"Israel
has exploited the preoccupation of the United States and the international
community to combat terrorism to achieve its agenda in trying to eliminate the
peace process and hit the Palestinian Authority," the king stated.
Jordanian
Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, who accompanies Abdullah to Washington, told
AFP on Wednesday that "King Abdullah will underline the importance of
pursuing the dialogue between the American administration and Mr. Arafat."
Muasher
added that Abdullah would explain to Bush the "negative repercussions a
break with Arafat could have for the region, the Palestinian people and Arab
moderate countries."
The
Jordanian leader told the CBS program that "continuing terrorist acts'' by
both parties made it very difficult for the United States to act. The king spoke
with both Arafat and Sharon before departing Jordan earlier this week and
reportedly urged both to implement security agreements and return to
negotiations.
Jordan,
which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1996, has joined Arab allies of the
United States in warning the Bush administration against severing ties with
Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
The
king said Bush was "working and has been working with the international
community behind the scenes to try and get Arafat into a position where America
can play a much stronger hand."
On
Wednesday, Javier Solana, the Spanish diplomat who is the European Union's top
foreign policy official, advised U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell not to cut
off contacts with the Palestinian Authority over recent attacks on Israel.
Some
analysts said they were skeptical that Abdullah's White House visit would
accomplish much, if anything. And some added that the tone and content of Bush's
"State of the Union" address might have made the domestic political
situation more difficult for Abdullah and other Arab countries.
"This
was a very provocative speech, which came off as very hostile to Arabs and
Muslims," said Glenn Robinson, a scholar on Jordan and a professor at the
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. "For any regime to be
standing next to President Bush so soon after that speech cannot help them
domestically."
Robinson
said the media reaction in the region showed that many people believed that the
Bush administration had "swallowed, hook, line and sinker, Sharon's
aggressive policy towards terrorism and the Palestinians."
He
added there was resentment in Jordan toward the U.S. policy of continuing
economic sanctions against neighboring Iraq.
"The
average man on the street in Amman is not sympathetic to Saddam Hussein, but he
is to the plight and suffering of the Iraqi people," said Robinson.
"There's an incentive to ease things on Iraq. This puts more pressure on
Abdullah. All of the major, pro-U.S. regimes, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and
Jordan, are going to be under pressure as long as the U.S. pursues policies
which are viewed as being against Arabs and Muslims."
Other
analysts were less hopeful that even a leader Washington views as a political
moderate, like Abdullah, would be able to make much progress at the White House.
"I'm
sure he's going to make another plea to the administration," said Laurie A.
Brand, a specialist on Jordan and a professor of international relations at the
University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
"But
this administration has shown itself to be impervious to pleas from Arab
leaders, many who are more powerful than King Abdullah. If the administration
won't listen to Mubarak or the Saudi leaders, it's doubtful they will listen to
King Abdullah."
With
additional reporting by S.M. Khalid
|
