King Hussein : Still Optimistic That Peace Is Inevitable in Middle East

King Hussein bin Talal is the Middle East’s leading optimist. Although the Middle East has been the world’s most volatile region during the past half century--with five Arab-Israeli wars, two Gulf wars and many border conflicts, civil wars and revolutions--the Jordanian leader has consistently believed real peace with Israel was not only possible but inevitable.

He has often defied his Arab brothers to get it. The king’s secret meetings with an array of Israeli leaders before the current peace process was launched in 1991 were open secrets. And just 21 months after he signed a formal peace treaty, Jordan now has far broader ties to Israel than any Arab state.

While other partners in the peace process have died for their boldness, King Hussein is one of the region’s true survivors. In August, he will mark 44 years on the Hashemite throne, a period of transformation from a predominantly tribal and nomadic society to a modern state. Jordan now has among the highest literacy and education levels in the developing world.

He is also politically daring. After the protests and unrest in the late 1980s that led to clampdowns elsewhere in the region, the king opted instead to open up Jordan’s political system. It has since held two rounds of free multiparty elections for Parliament and written a new national charter that establishes the framework for democracy. Jordan’s political experiment, while still young and fragile, is the boldest transformation in a region that has persistently held out against reform. Islamist forces, which make up the largest single bloc in Parliament, charge that the king has not gone far enough in implementing democracy and that he still tightly controls the reins of power.

Beyond politics, the king has always been one of the region’s more colorful leaders. Affectionately known among diplomats and journalists as the PLK, or “plucky little king,” the monarch is an avid sportsman who likes everything from karate to fencing and race-car driving to skiing. He is also a pilot who flies his entourage around the kingdom, as well as on regular trips abroad--whatever the weather, as one of his staff nervously noted when he flew into foggy New York to receive an honorary doctorate of law from New York University last week.

By four successive wives--a Jordanian, a Brit, a Palestinian and an American--the king has 11 children, who range in age from 10 to 40 years old, plus an adopted daughter. His current wife, Queen Noor, is American-born Lisa Halaby. While in the United States, he also attended one of his children’s graduation from middle school in Boston.

On the eve of the pivotal Arab summit in Cairo next Friday, King Hussein came for extensive talks at the White House, State Department and Pentagon on Israel’s new leadership, the peace process, Iraq, terrorism and regional security.

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Question: What do you expect to come out of the Arab summit next week? Does the Arab world have either the resources or the clout to be able to come up with something to convince the new prime minister of Israel to move forward, not just to enact what has been agreed on so far, but to take the other major steps that will bring this historic [peace] process to a close?

Answer: I hope that the Arab summit, which will be the first after many, many years, will bring about reconciliation between those who represent the Arab nation. Complementality is the only way left to us to bring about progress in our entire region.

As far as the Israeli dimension of the problem is concerned, I don’t believe the Arab summit should, beyond reviewing developments, do anything but stress our total commitment to all that we have achieved so far and our hope that progress will be made to build further on this foundation.

I believe it is too early, too premature, to go along the path of suggesting that there is any change in the Israeli attitude toward peace.

The elections were an exercise of a democratic process aimed at electing the person who presents the best hope for the people of Israel to lead them through the phase that is ahead. It had nothing to do with a peace camp or those opposed to peace. I believe the overwhelming majority of Israelis are committed to peace.

The peace treaty between Jordan and Israel had an overwhelming majority of votes supporting it in the Israeli Knesset, probably more than the votes achieved on any other subject over a long period of time. I don’t know where this notion came from that we should regard this election as indicative of a change of course, particularly when we have heard already that the Israeli government intends to honor all its commitments and obligations and, on the other hand, to continue to build with all the partners in the peace process toward achieving a comprehensive peace.

Q: Do you expect the summit in Cairo to be heated?

A: I don’t expect it to be otherwise. There is every need for frankness and candor.

Q: If things don’t move as smoothly as you’d like to see them, would you be prepared in Cairo, or somewhere farther down the road, to take steps that would mean cutting back on the relationship with Israel or slowing movement on the peace process?

A: We will do everything we can to make up for all the time lost and all the opportunities and the dark past. We must continue to build, and nothing is going to slow that down as far as we are concerned. I hope that will be the case with the rest because, in fact, by moving to make peace a reality in our region, we increase our chances of resolving the difficult problems, rather than taking a negative attitude that might further exacerbate them.

Q: Do you expect Prime Minister-elect Netanyahu to agree to terms acceptable to the Palestinians that will allow the resolution of final status over the next four years?

A: This is still to come. But I believe the government will respect its commitments and will build on them.

Q: But to be specific: Netanyahu has said he will never engage in talks that would lead to the surrender of any part of Jerusalem.

A: If we are to think of all that we have said in our lives in that part of the world, we would find it a very gloomy picture. But responsibility brings with it a greater awareness of the needs and requirements for the future for all our peoples in that region.

As far as Jerusalem, I do not believe anyone is suggesting that Jerusalem be divided in the sense of creating walls and barriers. What we are involved in is a process of destroying and removing barriers. Jerusalem, the holy city, is important and is very much a part of the heart and soul of every follower of the three great monotheistic religious. Therefore, it has to be elevated to that status, which means the coming together of all of us. Beyond that, East Jerusalem is occupied territory since 1967. I don’t see why a solution cannot be found that will make Jerusalem not only the center of our coming together, in terms of the three monotheistic religions, but also as a symbol of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Q: What happens to the Middle East if the peace process doesn’t make the kind of progress that you so optimistically predict? What’s your worst-case scenario?

A: There is no alternative for any of us. We would be failing not only ourselves, but we would be failing all future generations.

Q: Do you feel at all exposed because you are the furthest out in normalizing relations with Israel, including the new daily bus routes between several Jordanian and Israeli cities?

A: No, we do not feel unnecessarily exposed.

What a wonderful discovery it is to find out that people across that barrier, which, psychologically, had been created, feel the same way, have the same fears, have the same hopes, have the same suffering.

Q: Do you believe the United States is capable or likely to be able to get Netanyahu to move forward on issues on which he has not been as committed to as others in Israel?

A: Let’s give the prime minister a chance. I believe, God willing, that he will prove what we expect of him. In any event, the people of Israel have made their choice, and we have to live with that, respect it and continue from this point to build.

Q: On Iraq, a number of recent reports in Jordanian newspapers indicate that there might be some kind of reconciliation with Iraq in the near future.

A: There is nothing that I’m aware of to justify any of these reports, in any form.

Our quarrel is not with Iraq. Our struggle has been for the Iraqi people to secure their rights to live in peace and harmony. Our commitment is to support them to live in democracy. A country with such a history and diverse cultures as Iraq could be an example for others. This is a course we’ll continue to advocate.

Q: Does the new U.N. agreement allowing Iraq to sell $2 billion worth of oil so it can buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods also allow Saddam Hussein to continue to rule?

A: The Iraqi regime’s acceptance of the Security Council resolution is an indication of the fact that things had gotten to the point where there was no other course to follow in terms of the needs of the people of Iraq. It may be portrayed as the beginning of the end of the sanctions, but, on the other hand, I’m very, very clear in my mind as to what we would wish it.

Q: Is there any opposition inside or outside Iraq capable any time in the near future of removing Saddam Hussein from power?

A: There must come a point in time where the suffering of the Iraqi people is ended. They have suffered far too much, externally, in terms of the noose around Iraq, which is unprecedented, and, internally, in terms of repression.

The answer has to come from within the country itself. I hope it will focus on not change for change alone, but on change to enable a dialogue to begin to put the country together, a country that is already fragmented, a country that has neighbors that have diverse interests, as far as Iraq’s future is concerned.

Q: On Syria, you have spoken, and others have indicated, that Jordan is concerned about recent infiltrations across the Syrian border. Do you fear attempts to destabilize Jordan?

A: Attempts have never ceased to destabilize Jordan. They have continued to aim at Jordanian leaders, at the stability of the country, at visitors to Jordan. Thank God, through the diligence of our people, we have been able to foil them so far.

I hope that this whole issue of terror and terrorism will be one that is addressed both within the Arab world and outside.

Q: Who are these people? You’ve mentioned Syria in previous statements.

A: I’ve mentioned that, obviously, when people come across our borders, they must come from certain states. And they may not be the originators of these actions but, certainly, they must foot responsibility for these actions.

Q: Are these Syrians and Iranians?

A: Not necessarily Syrians and Iranians. There are also some groups that are known to exercise terror in our region. They belong to the other camp.

The divide in our region has changed from what it was--to those who believe in peace and the future and the dignity and security for all people, and those who oppose it and who are not able to move out of their very limited dark holes in terms of mentality and approach. That is where the struggle is. We have them on the Israeli side, and we have them in the Muslim world.

Q: You have won approval for the sale of [16 U.S.-made] F-16 warplanes. What do you envision using the F-16s for, against what kind of enemy?

A: We have the longest border of any Arab state with Israel. We have a longer border than all the other borders put together. This border is not secured by international forces nor international observers. It is secured by our people on both sides. We have other borders and other problems and other threats to peace and to everything we have achieved so far. We have our armed forces that have also protected not only peace but Jordan and its democracy and its stability and its very existence. And it deserves to have the possibility of having a minimal capability to defend itself against external threats.

Jordan is also a very active part of the United Nations effort elsewhere in the world, and peacekeeping. So these are the dimensions of our needs.

Q: What do you want from the United States? What are you asking of President Clinton?

A: It cannot be my place to suggest what should be done. But, hopefully, the United States will be more involved in the future in pushing all concerned to move and contribute to a future that is in the interest of all of us in the region.*