King Abdullah Affirms Jordanians' outrage on Israeli Attacks

Amman
09 April 2002

His Majesty King Abdullah II on Tuesday said the Jordanians were extremely outraged by Israeli continuous attacks on the Palestinian people.

"All of us are frustrated, and angry and dispirited about what is going on with the Palestinian people and the suffering that is happening to all those in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin, and other places in the West Bank," King Abdullah said in U.S. NBC news network Tuesday.

Jordanian humanitarian support has already moved into the West Bank through the land system in trucks "and our air forces landing blood supplies to many of the innocent people in towns and cities that need medical support at the moment," King Abdullah added.

The King noted that because of its relations with Israel, Jordan has been able to bring in humanitarian support and assistance to the Palestinians that are suffering under tremendous humanitarian pressure.

King Abdullah called upon Israel to give free access to Jordanian medical teams "to move into the West Bank and support the Palestinians in their time of need by getting the most basic necessities and supplies to them." "Israel needs to be flexible to allow us to be able to get in and help people that under siege in all these cities," King Abdullah said.

"We believe that (Israeli) military incursion is a tremendous mistake, that the Israeli army needs to pull out as quickly as possible," King Abdullah said in reply to a question.

Answering a question on Israeli Prime Minister Sharon`s recent remarks that he was willing to talk peace with Arab leaders, the King said "We have relations where we want to be able to use the goodness of the relationships that we have with all parties to be able to push the peace process forward." The Arab countries came together in Beirut and offered the olive branch to Israel, the King added urging Israel to give the Palestinians a chance to have their future.

"If we can take it a step further, not only do we need the de-escalation of the military and get the Palestinians and Israelis back to talking with each other, but also, with the American administration, we to pursue the Saudi initiative, which was endorsed in Beirut to bring a larger peace around," King Abdullah said.

On whether His Majesty would be willing to sit down at a table with Ariel Sharon, King Abdullah said "I think what is more important at this time that Prime Minister Sharon sit down with Arafat... and the Palestinians and Israelis sit down together and sort their problems as quickly as possible." Jordan, Egypt and all the Arabs would support that, the King Added.

King Abdullah noted the suffering and frustration, the Palestinian people have been undergoing for 35 years. Everybody should recognize that `this is not a security issue. This is a political issue and that is what we have to remember at the end of the day." "The Israelis have to deal with this as a political problem" and as a problem of "people under occupation that want to have their freedom."