Jordan’s King Abdullah said the United States was not balanced in its
handling of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. “It is our duty to push this great
nation, and others, to take balanced positions and support the peace process,”
Abdullah told Jordanian television in a weekend interview ahead of a trip to the
United States. He said Washington should use its influence on Israel “to prove
its transparency to the peoples of the region, and that it is not biased.”
Abdullah, whose pro-Western country is considered an important regional broker,
suggested that Israel was not displaying sincerity in its efforts to restart
peace talks with the Palestinians. “The main responsibility lies with Isael,
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.
