Fergal KeaneSpecial correspondent, Amman
BBC
King Abdullah II of Jordan has warned that the Middle East is doomed unless there is a peace process leading to a Palestinian state.
The king was speaking in an exclusive interview for BBC Panorama, as he prepared to attend a summit in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh on President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the region.
The summit is taking place on the day Hamas released the last living Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.
“If we don’t solve this problem,” King Abdullah said, “if we don’t find a future for Israelis and Palestinians and a relationship between the Arab and Muslim worlds and Israel, we’re doomed.”
King Abdullah said the region had seen many failed attempts at peace and that the implementation of a two-state solution – the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, alongside Israel – was the only answer.
“I hope we can move things back, but with a political horizon, because if we don’t solve this problem, we’re going to be at it again,” the king said.
The current Israeli government has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution. At the United Nations General Assembly last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was emphatic in his opposition.
“In fact, they effectively had a Palestinian state – in Gaza. What did they do with that state? Peace? Co-existence?”
“No, they attacked us time and time again, totally unprovoked, they fired rockets into our cities, they murdered our children, they turned Gaza into a terror base from which they committed the October 7 massacre,” he added, referring to the Hamas-led attacks two years ago that t
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