His Majesty King Abdullah called on the international community to support the Palestinian people at a time of “expectancy” for the peace process, after talks with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on Monday.

At a joint news conference following the talks, the King said the peace process was going through a period of “expectancy” pending the formation of a Palestinian government by Hamas and Israeli elections due on March 28.

“All parties have a responsibility to create an environment favourable to a peaceful settlement” leading to a peaceful two-state solution, His Majesty the King was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying.

“The large majority of Palestinians and Israelis want peace.”

Chirac suggested at the news conference that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas could be in charge of distributing European aid to the Palestinians after the formation of a Hamas-dominated government.

“We must not sanction the Palestinian people economically. They have enough problems and difficulties,” Chirac said.

King Abdullah said it was “the responsibility of the international community to diminish the difficulties of the Palestinian people.”

King Abdullah directed the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization to dispatch today a 25-truck convoy loaded with 400 tonnes of essential food supplies for the Palestinians.

“This is part of a campaign to help the Palestinians overcome their crisis,” Abdul Salam Abbadi, secretary general of the organization, was quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, as saying.

Palestinian officials and international agencies warned Monday that supplies of bread and other staples were running out in Gaza Strip.

At the news conference, King Abdullah also denied reports of diplomatic tension between Jordan and Israel concerning earlier comments by an Israeli general.

The King said relations between Jordan and Israel were “normal.”

“The tensions were actually exaggerated by people who wanted to do so, via the press,” he said. “We did not take these comments seriously. Our relations have always been built on trust.”

The two leaders also discussed means to boost bilateral relations. France is the largest non-Arab foreign investor in Jordan, King Abdullah told AFP in an interview last week.

The King had earlier urged the creation of a Palestinian state in the next two years, in an interview published Monday before the talks with Chirac.

“I think that if two years from now such a state has not been created, there will be nothing left to negotiate,” he told the newspaper Le Monde.

King Abdullah also warned of an “inter-religious conflict” in Iraq.

“The potential risk of an inter-religious conflict is real. It would be disastrous for all of us,” he said.

Accompanied on the three-day visit by Her Majesty Queen Rania, King Abdullah addressed the European-American Press Club in Paris, saying that envisioned peaceful, integrated global society is not going to materialize by itself, but it rather “needs active, conscious efforts.”

The King said the world was living a moment of “tremendous global unease.” He added: “The disquiet that many of us feel was captured in a recent headline proclaiming the end of tolerance.”

It was prompted, he said, by the controversy over the Danish cartoons denigrating the Prophet Mohammad.

“Let me simply say that Muslims around the world — and I am one of them — condemned the denigration of the prophet.” But he stressed that “the majority of Muslims also condemn the violence that ensued as alien to the principles of Islam.”

Following his address, the King told reporters that Jordan will deal with Hamas as part of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian government, saying that international community has become “tired and apathetic” towards the Mideast peace process.

“What is needed now is not how to make peace, but commitment to the way peace should be made,” he said.

He warned that the world will pay the price of failure to achieve peace, adding that security will only be possible when the life of ordinary Palestinians improves.

“If disappointments do not stop, Palestinians will fall into the trap of extremism.”

On Iran's nuclear issue, the King said Tehran was well-known in the region for exercising long-term strategic planning, “leaving nothing for chances.”

He urged the international community to maintain dialogue and negotiations with Iran because the Middle East cannot stand further instability.

The Jordan Times