Jordan’s king: Israel must choose `fortress’ or peace

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Friday that Israel must choose between the mentality of “Israel the fortress” or “peace and security with its neighbors.”Interviewed on state television before his departure to the United States, the king said the U.S. is the country most capable of influencing Israel.

“It is time that the [U.S.] employ this influence to prove its transparency to the people of the region and that it is not biased,” Abdullah said. The king, who has long urged America to get more involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, is likely to make the same point Wednesday when he addresses Congress.

The Middle East faces “either the choice of peace or the choice of chaos, violence and destruction,” Abdullah said in a rare television interview.

Referring to the U.S., he said: “It is our duty to push this great state, and others, to take balanced positions and support the peace process.”

Abdullah said he realized that Washington was preoccupied with Iraq and that Jordan also wanted to see reconciliation and stability there.

But, the king added, “the principal problem in the region is the Palestinian issue and, if it is not solved, it will be impossible to solve the other problems.

“The main responsibility [for achieving peace] lies with Israel, which must choose either to remain a prisoner of the mentality of `Israel the fortress’ or to live in peace and stability with its neighbors,” he said.

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