King's Interview with N.B.C.

Amman
15 June 2004

His Majesty King Abdullah has warned against the prevailing state of frustration and anger in the Middle East and other areas in the world as a result of the U.S. policy. " This is worrisome," King Abdullah said in an interview with the American N.B.C. channel.

The change in attitude I have seen over the past year or the past two years is that the situation is no longer against the U.S. policy only as it was but rather against the Americans themselves, King Abdullah said.

On what might the King say to his friends at the White House about these feelings, King Abdullah said "I think they have to realize that their policy leaves its impact on peoples' views on the U.S. . The shots we view on TV screens where Israeli tanks attacking the Palestinians and the U.S. tanks in Iraq make it difficult for the U.S. friends to say that the U.S. policy is working for the interest of the region.

"Nobody can hope of a real future in the Middle East unless the core issue in the region, the Palestinian issue, is solved," the King added.

Addressing this issue would help reduce terror that is fed on peoples' frustration because of the lack of solution, he said.

On the Iraqi file, King Abdullah, who ruled out the division of this country, called for a bigger role for the UN in Iraq and warned against pushing into a devastating civil war.