The King warned, that time for negotiating Israeli-Palestinian peace is running out, King Abdullah II of Jordan told a Princeton University audience Friday, Feb. 29, that the United States must take a stronger role in helping to resolve the conflict and secure the future of the Middle East.[1]

Of the more poignant statements made by the King emphasizes the need for opportunities for youth throughout the Middle East providing hope for the future as opposed to hatred and extremism that currently speads unabated across Islam.

Security, opportunities for youth, economic development, resource scarcity, chronic conflicts, institutional challenges and nuclear weapon proliferation, are just some examples of the major challenges we face. You are a prime example of some of the gifted, ambitious youth of America. We are acutely aware of the urgent needs of our own youth who make up 70 percent of my region's people. It is the largest youth cohort in our history. Like American youth, Internet communications have given them an unprecedented view of the world. In their own region they see evidence in extremist messages of hatred and isolation. They see a lack of opportunities and an uncertain future. But they also see the prosperity and freedom that countries and regions in peace can offer.

The King also made a salient point by stating, In Israel, there are those who oppose any movement toward resolution. There are politicians who do not want peace with Palestinians and who reject a two-state solution. I disagree. Israel's security cannot depend indefinitely on occupation, walls, and the Israeli military. Real security for Israel will occur when it is a neighbor among neighbors, an economy among economies, a people among people working together towards the achievement of common goals and bright futures.

The opposition toward any resolution with Palestine is a policy that has existed since at least 1967 and has seemingly wavered only in rhetoric, yet not in practice, over the subsequent decades.

Just one year after the 1967 war, Moshe Dayan, a former IDF chief of staff who at the time was minister of defence, described his plan for the future as 'the current reality in the territories'. 'The plan,' he said, 'is being implemented in actual fact. What exists today must remain as a permanent arrangement in the West Bank.' Ten years later, at a conference in Tel Aviv, Dayan said: 'The question is not "What is the solution?" but "How do we live without a solution?"' Geoffrey Aronson, who has monitored the settlement enterprise from its beginnings, summarises the situation as follows: Living without a solution, then as now, was understood by Israel as the key to maximising the benefits of conquest while minimising the burdens and dangers of retreat or formal annexation. This commitment to the status quo, however, disguised a programme of expansion that generations of Israeli leaders supported as enabling, through Israeli settlement, the dynamic transformation of the territories and the expansion of effective Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan River. [2]

The above policy has been perpetuated right under the noses of the American public and with the support of the United States government - without regard to what party controlled the White House. The U.S. has provided an enormous amount of aid and used it's security council veto in the United Nations many times to oppose sanctions against Israeli occupation and aggression while a significant majority of the remaining nations across the globe supported the sanctions - with the consistent exceptions being Israel, South Africa and the United States. Even former President Carter described the situation in Israeli controlled Palestine as "Apartheid" and suffered the wrath of the Jewish-American community that has significant influence in American government and U.S. foregin policy.

The only available transcripts of Abdullah's speech at Princeton yesterday were apparently posted to Huffington Post by the King himself. To read those transcripts, utilize the link provided below. A Princeton WWS webcast of the speech will be available soon.

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[1] - Jordan's King Abdullah urges more effort for Mideast peace at WWS address, By Eric Quinones, courtesy of the Office of Communications.

[2] - The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam, by Henry Siegman.

My Message to America on the Urgency of Forging Peace in the Middle East and Creating a New Strategic Relationship with the Arab World, King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, Huffinton Post, February 29, 2008.

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3.1.2008