President Obama compliments the Jordanian King for the latter's role in confronting Syria and trying to restart the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations:
"Noting Abdullah's role in decrying the Syrian government's violent crackdown on protesters, Obama said of the Jordanian leader, "I want to thank him for his willingness to stand up. As a consequence, Jordan has been part of an overall Arab League effort to encourage this sort of peaceful transition inside of Syria that is needed."
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The US president also addressed Israel-Palestinian peace talks, saying that "the Jordanians have taken great leadership on this issue, and we very much appreciate their direction."
My comments:
1. The commendation for His Majesty's "willingness to stand up" to the Syrian dictator, sounds strange on two counts:
i) President Obama has consistently refused to do the same vis-a-vis the Syrian dictator. This notably involved consistent refusal to withdraw the US ambassador despite the continuing massacres. The ambassador himself behaved honorably and had to be withdrawn after Assad's collaborators attacked the US embassy.
ii) King Abdullah is himself an autocrat, which explains his desire to end protests and otherwise calm the situation - he is very much afraid that similar things may happen in his domain. While there is nothing wrong with Obama assisting a US ally, so explicitly supporting an undemocratic leader is inappropriate for the US president and potentially risky. (Just recall the uncomfortable 180 degrees turn that the Obama Administration had to make within a few days in regard to Mubarak.)
2. Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations:
i) President's praise for King Abdullah is in striking contrast with his treatment of the Israeli Prime-minister or the Palestinian leadership, from whom he however requires greater sacrifices. (and arguably receives them - settlement freeze is an example.)
ii) The motivation behind King's efforts to make peace is well-known - half of his subjects are Jordanian Palestinians, who would be happy to united with their brothers in West Bank and form a truly Palestinian state. Two-state solution is a way to postpone this outcome by creating an artificial Palestinian state that will be a home to less than a half of all the Palestinians living in the neighborhood.
The President perfectly knows that "two-state solution" seems like a solution only to the concerned public in the US and Europe, but not to the Palestinians or Israelis. He also knows that the "two-state solution" does not resolve the broader Arab-Israeli conflict. While all the Western politicians are obliged to play this "two-state" game, there is no need to be more zealous than necessary.
iii) One still may wonder why the most unstable moment in the recent history of the Middle East is supposedly the best time to make Arab-Israeli Peace. (I mean government changes in many countries and the shift of power confrontation line from Arab-Israeli to pro-Iranian and anti-Iranian.)
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