His Majesty King Abdullah warned that failure to achieve peace between Palestinians and Israelis will lead the region to more war.

In an interview with Jon Stewart, host of the widely viewed US news programme the Daily Show, King Abdullah warned that wasting the opportunity to forge a negotiated peace will strengthen extremists, who will make use of the failure to resolve the conflict to serve illegitimate goals and weaken the forces of moderation in the region.

King Abdullah added that the years of fruitless negotiations have caused the voice of moderation to wane in the region, and that many people consequently see violence as the only solution.

The King said the path to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is clear, but that political commitment is needed to resolve the conflict on the basis of the two-state solution within a regional context that brings about a comprehensive peace. Such a settlement, he said, will result in normal ties between Israel and the 57 Arab and Muslim countries that support the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

He noted that Israel's failure to extend a settlement-building freeze in the West Bank, set to expire on September 26, will scuttle the talks, extinguish the hope of peace and potentially pull the region into more conflicts and violence.

King Abdullah stressed that all Arab countries, including Syria and Lebanon, are committed to achieving peace in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative.

The King said a two-state settlement to Palestinian-Israeli conflict would effectively carve a path to comprehensive peace and subsequently neutralise extremists by depriving them of the ability to use the conflict to serve their own agendas.

He explained that the Palestinian cause is a core concern for Arabs and Muslims, and that ending the conflict will enable the region to focus on development and economic challenges, especially the challenge of job creation for the region's youth, who currently make up the largest-ever proportion of the population.

The King remarked that the region needed to generate 200 million jobs in the coming years to absorb this generation into the labour force, warning that the combination of unemployment and demographics are a “a ticking time bomb”.

King Abdullah also addressed Iran's role in the region, reiterating that resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would defuse several regional crises.

Jordan is working to achieve peace in the Middle East and assist in efforts to build a better future for all nations in the region, he stressed.

He said that the contested city of Jerusalem, which is holy to all three Abrahamic faiths, ought to be a city of peace rather than conflict, and that it was important to address all final status issues - including Jerusalem and refugees - on the basis of international terms of reference.

The King said there is more to unite the followers of these three monotheistic faiths than there is to divide them, and that all parties should be working to restore this unity.