His Majesty King Abdullah II has affirmed that Jordan would pursue its efforts to stamp out terrorism and extremism stressing the need for the international community to cooperate closely to fight terrorists who never belong to Islam nor to any other heavenly religion.



"Those who carry out brutal deeds in the name of Islam are not Moslems," King Abdullah said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera and Italian TV Rai Uno.



"You can not be a Moslem or Christian extremist if you refer to God when striking the defenseless and mortifying man's dignity," King Abdullah said.



Islam is founded on the values of tolerance and humanity and there is no extremism in Islam. Those who are killing children and innocent people, kidnapping and terrorizing others should be fought against, the King said.



"The evil must be fought against nowadays...with facts and acts we must fight the extremist, where ever they may hide," King Abdullah said.



The King called upon the mass media not to allow terrorists use them as a means of propaganda for their heinous acts.



In his remarks King Abdullah shed light on major issues in the Middle East particularly in Palestine and Iraq and urged the international community to assist Iraqi people and help them overcome current hardships facing them at present.



"The only thing to do is to reinforce the current Iraqi government... we are to help this government bring back stability so that election can be held on time," said the King stressing the necessity for all Iraqis to participate in shaping their future.



On the situation in Palestine, King Abdullah called upon the Palestinian leadership to unite their efforts and to work tightly-nit, in harmony to help realize aspirations of the
Palestinian people and not to allow Israeli Prime Minister maintain that there is no partner to carry on talks with.



The King said the pull-out from Gaza and the breaking up of the settlements when be a positive step as long as it follows the directives of the Road Map, being the only structured and well-balanced plan for guaranteeing of rights to Palestinians and security to the Israelis. "However if the breaking up of the settlements in one place means establishing others in another then this will not serve the cause of peace and will bring more problems," the King added.



French and Italian media hailed the King's remarks and carried out excerpts from them . Press in Italy said the statements to the Italian paper bring hope and assurance to the people in Italy who see the King a modern leader that represents the voice of reason and wisdom and confidently leads the march of reform and democracy and firmly calls for discrediting terrorism and extremism.



The Italian people also highly appreciate the King's efforts to promote peace and stability in the region.