King Abdullah of Jordan speaks at Princeton
By Seth Mandel
March 14, 2008

Hopeful but uninspiring, thoughtful but not provocative, eloquent yet understated were some of the most common reactions to Jordanian King Abdullah II's Feb. 29 speech at Princeton University.

"I certainly agree with the message that King Abdullah was touting -- peace in the Middle East, a two-state solution, the U.S.'s critical role in that -- however, I thought the speech itself was a little bit lacking in specifics," said Jordan Reimer, who is studying political science and Near East studies at Princeton, and is also active in the university Hillel. "It didn't really say anything, but it said it beautifully."

"I think on that front he might have been a little vague," agreed Princeton freshman Carolyn Birbiglia, class of 2011. "I think he was very empowering, though ... about how the United States has to get involved to be able to unite the Palestinians and Israelis."

On that point, said Cale Salih, Princeton class of 2010, Abdullah's message was forceful and important, especially at a time when many question the level of involvement of the United States in Middle East politics.

"The King rightly recognized the importance of American involvement in the peace-making process and claimed that the U.S. is the only power that can facilitate efficient and effective negotiations amongst the Palestinians and Israelis," Salih said.

Salih, an Iraqi Kurd and current resident of Amman, Jordan, when not in school, said Abdullah held fast to the almost involuntary nature of American concern for the Middle East, and specifically the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"The King then directed this objective of engaging Americans by insisting that developments in the Middle East would directly affect the West in today's globalized world," Salih noted.

'Fifty-seven countries are not at peace with Israel today'

Abdullah's address was organized by the university's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. During his speech, Abdullah stressed the necessity of striking an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord this year.

Almost 30 percent of the world is not at peace with Israel, Abdullah said, declaring that such circumstances bode ill for global stability.

"We have a chance to answer this third of the world who are not at peace with Israel and who demand freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people," Abdullah said. "But time is running out and we need the United States of America completely involved, to influence the course of discussions, monitor progress, and help bridge the gaps to ensure a final agreement by the end of 2008. It is difficult to exaggerate how great the stakes are, for Americans, for Arabs, for Israelis, and indeed for the world."

Abdullah explained the glaring need in the Arab world for modern alliances with the West, which would offer them economic opportunity and would quell the pan-Arab insistence that radicalism is what brings results.

The linchpin in that formula, he said, is the American government; the springboard is the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Though Abdullah called for "freedom" from "continued confinement" for the Palestinians in Gaza, he hinted at the need to suppress Hamas, whose violent takeover of Gaza and support for terrorism has essentially made all Gazan Arabs their hostages, as well: "If we fail... I fear radical ideologies will determine the political and social agendas in many of our countries. The region will move further away from our vision of moderation, prosperity and peace. It will move further away from the common principles of mutual respect and partnership on which we want to base our relations with the United States and the West."

Why now?

Abdullah was asked why he is pushing for a comprehensive peace accord this year, when the three essential leaders -- U.S. President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas -- are suffering politically from low approval ratings and a perceived lack of the necessary power.

There is a process in place right now, Abdullah responded, and that process must not be abandoned or shelved. Abdullah pointed out the tendency of American presidents to take a hands-off approach to the conflict for most of their term in office.

"If we don't complete by the end of 2008, the end of the Bush administration, it's going to take at least two or three years until another American president is going to be even willing to take a look at the Middle East," Abdullah said. "What happens in those two or three years? Everything that I see leads to darker paths. So I say that this is the last chance because the dynamics is no longer the Israeli-Palestinian issue, it's much more challenging than that, and it's much more dangerous."

When asked about a greater pan-Arab role in the process, Abdullah responded that the Israeli and Palestinian leadership can hammer out about 90 percent of the deal. The remainder must be attended to by the international community, but specifically the U.S., he said.

As for the role of the Arab nations outside Israel, Abdullah said that full acceptance is being offered to Israel. The implications of that, he said, essentially move the discussion from one of physical borders to the removal of social and economic boundaries.

"We are talking today that the future of Israel is no longer [limited] to the Jordan River, or to the Golan Heights, or to southern Lebanon, or to the Sinai," he said. "What the Arab and Muslim countries are saying to Israel is, 'Look, we understand the difficulties of moving forward with a two-state solution, but your future is bigger than a two-state solution.' What is being offered here is complete acceptance of Israel from Morocco on the Atlantic to eastern Indonesia in the South Pacific."

Abdullah was then asked how a peace process can move forward with Hamas in control of Gaza and simply waiting for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank to take over that piece of land as well.

Abdullah responded that most of the region's population is under 35 years old, and they want a future -- something they know they won't have with Hamas.

"What they want is a bright future," he said. "They want jobs, they want to be able to have security, they want to be able to raise families. I think the difficulty is, it's usually the politicians that mess it all up."

About those politicians...

Birbiglia said that if given a choice between the U.S. staying in the Middle East or completely extracting itself from the region, her answer would be, "Stay." That answer invites the discussion, then, of just how involved the U.S. should be.

Abdullah was adamant that American involvement should be steep. Birbiglia expressed some concern for the U.S. spreading itself too thin, with its military, diplomatic, and infrastructure commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"But he does make a very good point that if there is a country that can possibly bridge the gap, it is the United States," she said, adding that America's involvement in Iraq can be separated from its responsibilities in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Zahava Stadler, Princeton class of 2011, is the religious life chair for Yavneh, the Princeton Hillel's Orthodox student group. Stadler said Abdullah brushed aside the question about the political standing of Bush, Olmert, and Abbas. It's a real concern in her opinion, but it wasn't treated as such by the king.

"And I think that's probably the greatest problem in moving forward," Stadler said. "And I would've liked to see him say something specific on how we can circumvent that problem, or a real reason why it wasn't an issue."

In any case, she added, the subject of U.S. involvement is "irrelevant." While Abdullah "has an excellent gift for PR," she said, the U.S. isn't currently so lucky.

"I understand his feeling, but at the same time I think the United States is busy making itself very unpopular in the Middle East at the moment, and that until we repair the PR damage we're doing because of Iraq, I don't think that U.S. involvement is going to be that helpful," Stadler said.

But Salih believed that Abdullah wasn't begging for help; he was jogging the collective memory of the Woodrow Wilson student body that in today's world, cartographic markers cannot be the primary measure of distance.

"This point is crucial to fostering engagement of Western students and leaders, as it personalizes the geographically distant conflicts in reminding them that their fates are inextricably linked to that of the Middle East," Salih said.

It's in the genes

The erudite Abdullah's speech, while articulate, lacked pinpoint prescription for a reason. Hope Cobb, of the Princeton Middle East Society, has seen it before.

"His father, King Hussein, was super-diplomatic, and I think that he really set the pace for his son to continue in that line," Cobb said. "But he was always very careful not to take too proactive a role -- that he was constantly trying to move the two sides closer together, and encourage an amelioration of the conflict, but without interfering in any way."

That lack of interference may seem historically peculiar, since Jordan was home to most of the Palestinians between 1948 and 1967, having conquered the West Bank during the Israeli War of Independence. Some of that, as was the case with Abdullah's father, is beyond his control, Cobb noted.

"He definitely has to be careful to back away from playing any kind of an intrusive role at all," she said. "I think that he can act as a cheerleader to try and encourage the process to move forward. But I think that he himself has to be very careful about advocating a specific approach which could antagonize many people."

Indeed, said Reimer, the days of a Jordanian state on both sides of the Jordan River are long gone, and simply as impractical now as ever.

"I don't necessarily see the traditional Jordanian-plus-Egyptian role in administering Gaza and the West Bank as being a viable alternative," Reimer said.

Abdullah's father, the late King Hussein bin Talal, reigned for 46 years, and was the region's friendliest head of state to Israel. King Hussein famously warned then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in 1973 that Egypt and Syria were about to attack in what would become the Yom Kippur War.

Three years earlier, as Syrian tanks rumbled unabated toward Amman, Israeli jets flew overhead, chasing the Syrians back to Damascus, ostensibly saving Hussein. Throughout his life, King Hussein conducted secret peace talks with Israeli leaders, though a deal couldn't be made public until the PLO signed its own accord with Israel in 1993. At Yitzhak Rabin's funeral, Hussein eulogized the fallen Israeli leader as a "brother, a colleague, and a friend."

Though she noted her concern with Palestinian casualties in Gaza, as well as their isolation, Arab Society of Princeton President Sarah Mousa praised Abdullah's carrying of the torch of optimism, a torch many saw King Hussein carry.

"As Arabs, we are proud to be represented by King Abdullah II, whose vision for peace and stability in the region is one which we hope will soon be realized," Mousa said.