...unfortunately what you’re seeing in Syria, you’ll see pretty much the
same thing for a while to come.

King: Jordan supports Arab consensus on Syria
http://www.petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?lang=2&site_id=1&NewsID=56419&CatID=13

Washington, January 20(Petra)-- His Majesty King Abdullah II said Jordan
supports Arab consensus on Syria, expressing hope that dialogue would have a
positive effect.

In an interview with Margaret Warner of PBS in Washington published on
Friday, the King said that 'nobody has an answer for Syria'.

Following are the main parts of the interview:

MS. WARNER: Well, Your Majesty, thank you for joining us. The Arab League is
about to wind up its mission, in fact today, in Syria. What do you think has
been accomplished, if anything?

KING ABDULLAH : Well, I think it’s given Arab countries a better insight to
what’s going on inside of Syria. It’s been an interesting mission, and I
think we’ve had some gains and some losses on that. And I think what it’ll
do is it’ll help develop a pan-Arab strategy on how to deal with Syria. And
I think all Arab countries are very concerned with what’s happening. And I’ll
have to see what the next stage, what the outcome will be from Arab League
decisions. Obviously, we in Jordan will abide by the Arab League and we will
work together with them, whatever the advice going to be.

MS. WARNER: Now, President Assad last week gave a very, very tough speech in
which he said he was going to continue to go after the terrorists with an
iron fist. He was quite insulting about the Arab League and the mission. Do
you think it’s had any effect in moderating even the killing?

KING ABDULLAH : Well, this has been going – you know, the exchanges between
the Arab League and Syria have been going on for a while. And we’ve had some
very heated discussions in Cairo. We’ve had delegations go to Syria. I do
wish that the Syrian regime would take the Arab League a bit more seriously
because, at the end, a unified Arab position is something that they have to
consider very seriously. The next couple of weeks are going to be very
critical. How does the Arab League deal with Syria and with Bashar.

MS. WARNER: The Emir of Qatar this weekend on "60 Minutes" said that, in
fact, the killing was so horrific that Arab troops should be sent in to stop
the killing. Would you ever support something like that?

KING ABDULLAH: Well, again, I’ll fall back to say that, you know, we are
with Arab consensus, and we’ll have to see what the Arab League comes up
with. I’m just very wary that once you start military operations in any
country, it’s very difficult to predict what the outcome is. We’re hoping
that dialogue, continuing pressure on Syria will have an effect –
understanding, from my point of view, that unfortunately what you’re seeing
in Syria, you’ll see pretty much the same thing for a while to come.

MS. WARNER: You mean you think the killing really is going to continue at
this pace?

KING ABDULLAH: I don’t know at this pace, but I think the disturbances and
the loss of life will continue, unfortunately. The problem with Syria – and
we’ve been here in Washington for a few days, talking to our colleagues
here, and I’ve been in interaction with my colleagues around the world in
the Middle East – nobody has an answer for Syria. That’s the most disturbing
thing. We don’t really know what to do. It’s different than Iraq. It’s
different than Libya. There are so many different sub-societies inside of
Syria that once things are taken to a next level, so to speak, as you’re
alluding to, it could be anybody’s guess what’s going to happen. And I think
that’s what concerns everybody.

MS. WARNER: You have known Bashar Assad a long time. You – the two of you
are almost the same age, you came to power almost at the same time, both the
sons of powerful rulers in your respective countries. I’m also told that you
actually told the Obama administration you thought he was a reform-minded
young leader that they could work with. What happened? What went wrong? What
did he do wrong?

KING ABDULLAH: I do know President Bashar very well. I also know his wife
and his children, and my family knows them very well. And I believe that, in
his blood, he does have reform. He does have a vision. And what I keep
trying to explain to people is I think that the system doesn’t allow for
that in Syria. So whether the intentions are there, the way the political
system is – I don’t think allows for reform to happen, because once they
start to open that door, then I think everything falls apart. So I think he
is hijacked by his position, by the system that he’s in charge of.

MS. WARNER: Are you suggesting that he would like to compromise, to open the
door to sharing power, but somehow has been precluded from it?

KING ABDULLAH : No. I think if -- I'm going back on my experiences of
Bashar. He's always tried to implement reforms, just, I think, the system
didn’t allow for it. And in an atmosphere of the Arab Spring, where there’s
been conflict between the regime and the people and now that there’s, as you
see, the bloodshed that’s ongoing, I think he’s hostage to the regime. So
even if he wanted to, I don’t think that he could change the way that he
does business. And people say, well, you know, if Bashar’s replaced – my
feeling from looking at Syria – even if he is replaced, the person that
comes in his place, would he have the ability to reach out in national
dialogue as we did in Jordan and other countries? I don’t think the system
allows for that. So it’s not so much the issue of the individual is what I’m
trying to point out; it’s the system that won’t allow for what’s happening
in Syria to change in time.

MS. WARNER: Do you think that the U.N. Security Council should impose
sanctions or a sanctions regime. They seem to be waiting to hear a
recommendation from the Arab League. What would – what would your, at least,
inclination be in that regard, whether to encourage the U.N. Security
Council to do some sanctions?

KING ABDULLAH: I think that’s where the dialogue is going. And again, if you
looked at what happened in Libya, it was, I think, bold action taken by the
Arab League that allowed UN, NATO and others to firm up their position. And
so if I can predict what will be happening over the near future, again, the
relationship between the Arab League and UN on how to take it to the next
step – understanding from our experience last year that when the Arab League
comes together as a bloc and makes a decision, it’s much more easier for the
international community to then move to the next phase.

MS. WARNER: Now you are, of course, in a region that’s seen a lot of unrest,
as we just referred to. And you’ve had protests and demonstrations in your
country

KING ABDULLAH II: That’s right.

MS. WARNER: How secure do you feel?

KING ABDULLAH: I think very secure. I mean, I think you have to be confident
in what you’re trying to achieve. We’ve had, as you said, demonstrations for
actually just over a year. And I think we’re the only country in – well,
definitely in the region – and when you look across the world, we’re the
only country in 2011, with all the demonstrations that we’ve had, that there
was no single loss of life. And that, I think, talks about the attitude of
how we are moving with the reform process. Tremendous pride I have with the
security services that really took a lot of hard hits to make sure that
citizens were protected. And today we have a road map. We will have
elections, municipal and national, this year. There was a lot of requests by
those in opposition to change the way that Jordan does business. They wanted
to change the constitution – And actually, a third of the constitution has
been ratified. The most two important things are constitutional. And for the
election process, and for I think the democratic process of political
parties, an independent commission for elections, that then allows the
government to step way back and have nothing to do with elections.

MS. WARNER: Now, some of your opponents say, though, that your security
forces have continued and have used brutal tactics against protesters,
demonstrators, opposition parties.

KING ABDULLAH: Well, I think certain opposition members in any country will
continue to take that line, no matter what you do. But the proof in the
pudding is that, in a year of demonstrations, not one loss of life. And in
actual fact, if you want to look at how many people have been in hospital,
there’s a far greater proportion of policemen that have ended up being
injured – some of them brutally stabbed with swords and knives over a couple
of very nasty conflict(s) with a crowd. And they’ve taken those hits to make
sure that the civilians have been protected. So actually I’m amazed at what
the police have been able to do – and I think, complete opposite to the
impression that some people have tried to give about Jordan.

MS. WARNER: Now finally, you have embarked on this attempt to get the
Israelis and Palestinians to at least talk about talking with one another.
How does that fit in the context of the Arab Spring?

KING ABDULLAH: What our friends in the West must understand is that,
whatever is happening in the Arab Spring, whatever every country is going
through, the core issue in the minds of all Arabs and Muslims is that of the
Palestinians. And so it is very dangerous to maneuver in the Arab Spring
without paying any attention to the Israeli-Palestinian process. The
Israelis and Palestinians have not been talking to each other for quite some
time. It would be tremendously damaging to both of them if we went to 2012
without any negotiations. As a result, we have been successful in getting
Israelis and Palestinians together in Jordan, in what I call baby steps. We’ve
been doing this for over 60 years; let’s not think through naivety that we’re
going to solve it right away.

MS. WARNER: Should I read from your tone, though, that you don’t think a
chance of a breakthrough is very likely in 2012?

KING ABDULLAH: The simple fact that I think both leaders, Prime Minister
Netanyahu and President Abbas, I believe want a way out of the impasse – and
have come to Jordan to have their lieutenants, so to speak, try to set up
the process so that we can get both the leaders together – I think should be
given a lot of credit to both sides. We know there are obstacles. We know
there’s a hard road to battle forward. But at least they’re talking to each
other. What we’ll see over the next couple weeks will determine if there’s
enough there for the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to sit around table. If
we can achieve that, then 2012 will be a safer year for both the Israelis
and the Palestinians, with all the instability that’s going on in the
region.

MS. WARNER: Your Majesty, thank you so much.

KING ABDULLAH: Thank you.

//Petra// SD
20/1/2012 - 11:36:26 AM