His Majesty King Abdullah has said the lack of peace between Israel and the Palestinians remains a major threat for the Middle East.

About whether the Annapolis peace process is “dead”, King Abdullah told Newsweek and The Washington Post he thought the peace process “has lost credibility in people's minds in this area”.

In the interview, which was conducted by Lally Weymouth on the sidelines of the 4th Petra Conference of Nobel Laureates, the King asked if “we are going to go for another 60 years of ‘fortress Israel', or are we going to have a neighbourhood where Israel is actually incorporated?”

King Abdullah expressed his optimism concerning the Iraqi situation, considering that Iraqis are “moving in the right direction”.

“They have worked together - Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis - for the betterment of Iraq in the last couple of months,” he noted.

On the standoff between Iran and world powers over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, the King said Jordan is against confrontation as an option and supports dialogue.

“I don't think that we can live with any more conflicts in this part of the world,” His Majesty said.

“If there is conflict, with Iran in this particular case, I'm not too sure where this is going to lead us,” the King added.