His Majesty King Abdullah today warned that U.S. credibility is on the line in the Middle East. The King said that the United States' failure to tackle the major crises in the region accounts for the apparent decline in its reputation.

"If America again moves the peace process forward only half-heartedly, I don't think America will ever be trusted again in the region," King Abdullah said during a question and answer session with American journalist Charlie Rose. "What that bodes for the future of the Middle East is not very bright."

He said countries of the region were very concerned about U.S. commitment to help the region find peace "because we know the price we are going to pay in the region" for failing to resolve conflict in the Middle East, beginning with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The session took place at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, following King Abdullah's special address to WEF participants.

The King said countries and leaders should not allow themselves to be held hostage to people from both sides of the conflict who will use violence to derail the peace process. But, he pointed out, continued conflict and the absence of a peace process has also resulted in a loss of life. "We have to take that risk and the challenge to move forward," he urged.

"Most Israelis want to be included in the neighborhood," he said. "That comes at a price [but] if you risk your future... in the right way, you become an integral part of the Middle East. That is the prize I believe is there for the Israeli public."

During the session, the King disputed that regional conflict, including conflict between Muslims, had its origins in religion. For the past several centuries, he said, there has never been a Sunni-Shia conflict. However, he said, some political organizations and countries today are using politics to try and create a religious conflict inside Islam. He added that sectarianism had been injected into the regional political vocabulary only since the 2003 Gulf War, and the use of it threatened to "open a Pandora's box".

"If you do start this, then the conflict wouldn't just be in Iraq, it would be from Beirut to Bombay," he warned. "We've got to make sure that this never happens, because that's one flame that, once it starts, it's going to be impossible to put out."