REGIONAL WAR "I am afraid that these people who oppose peace will create a big incident, perhaps on the border between Israel and Lebanon, between Israel and Syria, or an incident that will create a confrontation between Israel and Iran, and things can develop fast and get out of hand." SHARON STANDS BY HIS WORD "As opposed to others in the Arab world, Prince Hassan doesn't rush to criticize Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "It is very easy to turn the whole conflict to the personal level and focus on personalities. What I can say is that I did business with Sharon, meaning that I negotiated with him, and he stood behind his word. Demonization of the other is one of the problems in the Middle East. There are people who say that you can make a peace agreement just with the prime ministers of the Likud. We have to remember that even if Rabin were alive and were in a position of prime minister during the conditions of the intifada, he would find it difficult not to take definitive security steps." In other words, he understands Sharon's steps? Hassan sighs. He knows something about the mentality of the Palestinian and Israeli leadership. He says he is not a veteran commentator, but he has lived in the region all his life. All he sees is a return to the use of force, instead of to positive moments - the Camp David Accords between Begin and Sadat, the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. He says these are the moments during which basic security needs were discussed. Instead, there is a war against terror and extremist groups that fuel each other: "These groups took over our agenda, and we don't deal with the issues that are really important, the change of the context in the region. That can only be done by a third party being involved.'" THE BARRIER AND JORDAN "Regarding the building of the separation fence, Hassan refuses to come out with judgmental declarations, as he puts it. For practical security purposes, he understands that Israel has a reason for building the fence. But as far as politics - he says the fence prevents a return to the peace process. There are contradictions on this issue on the Palestinian side as well. The Palestinian prime minister said that he wouldn't be opposed to a barrier if it is built along the lines of June 5 (1967, before the Six-Day War). But, Hassan asks, from whom were these territories conquered? Territories are conquered by a sovereign state only from a sovereign state. He doesn't want to be too legalistic about it, he adds, but that's a fact." EXTENDING JORDANIEN CITIZENSHIP TO THE PALESTINIANS OUTSIDE JORDAN, OUTSIDE THE WEST BANK AND OUTSIDE EAST JERUSALEM WHO ARE NOT YET JORDANIAN CITIZENS "Hassan would like Jordan to be more involved in the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but there are skeletons in the closet, he says, with respect to the relations between Jordan and the Palestinians, and the Palestinians are afraid of Jordanian intervention in their affairs. However, Jordan has an obligation to offer citizenship to every Palestinian. When asked about the unfavorable situation of the Palestinians in Jordan, he replies that relatively speaking, Jordanians of Palestinian extraction have had more success in becoming part of Jordanian society than have Palestinians who live in other countries." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/396327.html Message was edited by: Neocon Message was edited by: Neocon