Jordan's king on Palestinian right to statehood

King Abdullah II of Jordan said in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the Palestinian right to statehood remains the Arab people's foremost cause. The king noted that amid the changes sweeping the Middle East region, peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis remains unresolved. "Make no mistake about it: The Palestinian right to statehood and their cry for justice and a homeland free of occupation remain the Arab people's foremost cause," he wrote. "In Jordan, the 'final-status' issues -- including borders, refugees, security and Jerusalem -- are at the heart of our priorities," he noted. "This means making real the promise of a viable, independent, sovereign Palestinian state, as part of a two- state agreement that resolves all final-status issues and guarantees security for Israel." Jordan has hosted three meetings between the parties since Jan. 3., and the kingdom said it would host a series of meetings on its soil in a bid to revitalize the stalled peace process. Abdullah disputed the perception that there is no point in restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks right now with all the regional change and uncertainty. "This 'wait-and-see' argument joins a long line of false excuses for why the parties can't get negotiating. A changing region doesn't preclude a settlement, it demands one," he wrote. "It is now, not tomorrow, that a settlement can show that political processes of negotiation and agreement can deliver what people want. It is now, not next year, that young people, Arab and otherwise, need to see the U.S., Europe and the rest of the democratic world mean what they say about justice for all," he wrote. He acknowledged that "substantive" negotiations between the parties are difficult, though the two-state solution is supported by the U.S., the rest of the Quartet mediators -- the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, and the Arab world in the form of Arab Peace Initiative adopted unanimously by the 2002 Arab Summit in Beirut. "But what is difficult today may be next to impossible if we fail this time," the king cautioned, drawing attention to the fact that Israel has continued to build settlements, particularly in Jerusalem, which, he said, is "a flash point for global concern." "Threats to holy sites, or efforts to change the city's character by driving out Arab Muslim and Christian Jerusalemites, could stop peace for decades to come," he remarked. Amid a feeling in the region that everything hangs in the balance, "settling the region's central conflict, a crisis in East- West relations for more than three generations, will show that the outside world can and will help us as we build a more just and optimistic future," he opined. "It will place more weight on the balance in favor of moderation everywhere. If we stop trying, we leave our fates too much to chance, and leave the field to the extremists," he wrote. "What is frustrating is that the components of a final agreement have been addressed in numerous rounds of negotiations over two decades. Still the parties, and by extension all of us, are failing to cross the finish line," he added. He was optimistic that the exploratory talks in Amman can lead to "substantive negotiations," first on borders and security, with the resolution of the issue of settlements "once and for all," and then on remaining final-status issues. He wrote that "The Quartet has set a timeline to wrap up an agreement by the end of 2012. But it can't happen unless we all build the environment for success. U.S. support is pivotal." U.S. President Barack Obama met with the king on Tuesday at the White House, with focus on Syria and the Mideast peace process. The White House has offered support for the efforts led by Jordan. "As we've said many times, we are quite grateful to the Kingdom of Jordan for offering the opportunity and the environment in which the parties have now finally, after 16 months, gotten back to speaking face-to-face," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Thursday. "And we are cautiously optimistic that this is a process that can grow and deepen going forward and that they will be able to meet the objectives that the Quartet put forward in September," she said at a regular news briefing. The Obama administration made the Israelis and Palestinians sit down for direct negotiations in Washington in Sept. 2010. But the talks collapsed weeks later due to Israel's refusal to renew its freeze on settlement building in the occupied West Bank.