His Majesty King Abdullah said that the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks hosted by Amman have made “baby steps” in progress after two weeks, adding that the two sides are looking for an outlet to break a two-year impasse in negotiations.
In an interview with The Washington Post on Monday, published on Tuesday, His Majesty said the three rounds of talks, which have been overseen by the Middle East Quartet and the foreign ministry, have been “both good and tough”, and a chance for the two sides to “start throwing initial passes at each other” to set the stage for more formal negotiations.
But he warned that time is running out to reach concrete proposals.
“I do believe they want a way out, a way to get to [direct] negotiations,” His Majesty said in the interview with Joby Warrick. “We all know the positions in which they have entrenched themselves. However, the intent, I believe, is there — from both sides. It is little baby steps, right at the beginning.”
The King told the paper that there are a lot of people who look at these negotiations negatively.
“My answer to that is: For them to at least try to talk to each other is better than nothing. If you understand the region, you realise how important that is.”
His Majesty warned the Israelis that the more they “play with kicking this down the line, the more they are in danger of losing what they think is the ideal future Israel”, explaining that “waiting is the worst mistake the Israelis can make”, and if they haven’t crossed that line, “we’ll cross the line sooner or later where the two-state solution is no longer possible”.
On the US role in the peace process, he said: “Because of American elections — because of America looking at its own challenges — we can’t expect for the Americans to wade in, full-weight, unless we have enough of a package where the outcome is somewhat predictable.”
Asked on the situation in Syria, King Abdullah said the violence, demonstrations and conflict that are going on there right now are likely to continue. “I don’t see anything that is going to change what we’ve been seeing over the past couple of months.”
Outlining the reform process in Jordan, he said: “I think luckily in Jordan, we’re going from Arab Spring to Arab summer, which means we’re rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard work of reform.”