Source:
The GuardianUS is putting together sweeping package, says King Abdullah of Jordan, warning of war within 18 months if talks don't progressRory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Jordan's King Abdullah has said the US is preparing an ambitious Middle East peace plan between Israel, the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon in return for diplomatic recognition of Israel from the world's Muslim nations.
Abdullah told the Times that on offer for Israel was a "57-state solution" in which the entire Arab and Muslim world would recognise its existence. "We are offering a third of the world to meet them with open arms," he said. "The future is not the Jordan river or the Golan Heights or the Sinai, the future is Morocco in the Atlantic and Indonesia in the Pacific. That is the prize."
If the peace agreement failed there could be another war in the Middle East by next year, Abdullah said in an interview with the newspaper.
"If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12 to 18 months," he was quoted as saying.
Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/jordan-abdullah-israel-palestinians-peace
King Abdullah of Jordan's ultimatum: peace now or it’s war next yearSource:
The TimesRichard Beeston and Michael Binyon in Amman
America is putting the final touches to a hugely ambitious peace plan for the Middle East, aimed at ending more than 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Arabs, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah, who is helping to bring the parties together.
The Obama Administration is pushing for a comprehensive peace agreement that would include settling Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its territorial disputes with Syria and Lebanon, King Abdullah II told The Times. Failure to reach agreement at this critical juncture would draw the world into a new Middle East war next year. “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months,” the King said.
Details of the plan are likely to be thrashed out in a series of diplomatic moves this month. Chief among them is President Obama’s meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister, in Washington a week today. The initiative could form the centrepiece for Mr Obama’s much-anticipated address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4. A peace conference could then take place involving all the parties as early as July or August. Such an ambitious project has not been attempted since 1991, when George Bush senior’s Administration assembled all the parties for a peace conference in Madrid.
“What we are talking about is not Israelis and Palestinians sitting at the table, but Israelis sitting with Palestinians, Israelis sitting with Syrians, Israelis sitting with Lebanese,” said the King, who hatched the plan with Mr Obama in Washington last month. He added that, if Mr Obama did not make good his promise for peace, then his credibility would evaporate overnight.
Read more:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6262080.ece