9 November 2001
Prime Minister
Good afternoon everyone. Can I extend a very warm welcome to His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan in coming to Downing Street, and say how honoured we are, Sir, to have you here. And to thank him, first of all, for the strength of his leadership and his determination to make sure that those who engage in international terrorism should not succeed. And he is a very powerful and respected member of that coalition against terrorism.
We have obviously had a set of detailed discussions. We have discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the military campaign there. We discussed, of course, the need to make sure that we do everything we possibly can to put the best humanitarian effort into dealing with the problems of displaced people and refugees in Afghanistan. We discussed how we could help reconstruct Afghanistan in the future after the conflict ends, because our quarrel has never been with the people in Afghanistan, but with the Taliban regime that shelters the al-Qu’eda terrorist network, and we have of course discussed the importance we both attach to progress in the Middle East Peace Process, and King Abdullah obviously has a very long, distinguished and powerful record of pushing for progress in that area. And I was able to talk with him following my discussions with President Bush last night about the shared determination that there is to see if it is at all possible to move this process forward. And I believe that is a vital part of making sure that out of the terrible events of 11 September, some good comes.
So, Your Majesty, I am delighted to see you here, really honoured to receive you here. Thank you once again for coming and thank you for your strength and support.
King Abdullah
Thank you Mr Prime Minister. Obviously it is always a great pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with you and to exchange on all the views that are facing us as challenges, not only for Jordan and Britain, but for the world in general. And I am always pleased that with our discussions with you, Sir, and your Government, that we see eye to eye on all the issues. Particularly we have been very proud of your efforts in your travels throughout the Middle East and the Islamic world to clarify the West’s position that this is not a struggle between the West and Islam. In particular that what we are facing is unfortunately those that have hijacked Islam for their own destructive ends. This is a battle not between moderate Moslems and extremist Moslems, because there is no such thing as moderate Moslems. There is Islam and there are the extremists that have hijacked this religion. And the West and the East have this golden opportunity to come together to really set a new standard in the world and a bright and hopeful future.
We are obviously pleased with the co-ordination that we are having with Britain on crises closer to home and pursuant I hope, after the evidence of September, the importance of moving the Israeli-Palestinian track along as quickly as possible so that we can bring down the level of tension in our part of the world and have the opportunity, once and for all, to have a stable and peaceful future.
So again, Sir, I thank you very much for the opportunity to see you and I look forward to seeing you in the future, and again it is always a pleasure because when it comes to all the issues that we have to discuss, we always see eye to eye on everything. So thank you very much.
Question
A question for the King and for you, Prime Minister. The President of Pakistan is saying that continuation of the bombing in Afghanistan during Ramadan would send a negative message to the whole of the Moslem world. Do you agree with that, Sir? And what is your reaction, Prime Minister.
King Abdullah
Well, Sir, obviously all of us would like to see the situation in Afghanistan brought to a conclusion sooner rather than later. But we have to remember that there are specific military objectives that have to be achieved, and we all hope that they are achieved as soon as possible, but we can’t always have things the way we like it, and as a result we have to remember that the main aim is the military objectives, and we just hope and pray that they are achieved as quickly as possible.
Prime Minister
I agree entirely with what His Majesty has just said.
Question
Mr Prime Minister, for the last few weeks you have been calling for the establishment of a viable Palestinian State. What exactly do you mean by a viable Palestinian State? How do you envision that State to be?
Prime Minister
I think the two things that everybody recognises who is of a reasonable mind, when analysing the problems of the Middle East Peace Process, is that the State of Israel is not going to disappear and neither are the Palestinian people going to disappear. So they are going to have to live side by side together in a viable state where people have the opportunity to be partners in the region - equal partners in the region - in building the region’s future, and its prosperity. Now, I think if people were to accept those two basic principles, then everything else, if you like, is something - and there are very difficult issues for negotiation - but there are things that can be negotiated. But I think that we would make a lot of progress in the Middle East if people could accept those two basic, fixed points: that the State of Israel will exist and should be confident of its existence and able to be secure within its own borders, and the Palestinian people should have their own state in which their rights can be properly safeguarded, and in which there is justice and equality and a sense of partnership in the region because in the end, what has this conflict done? It has caused deep poverty, it has caused much injustice and it has caused two groups of people, who in the end will have to live side by side together, to be in conflict with each other. So I hope very much that we can do what we can in these coming days and weeks to put this process back on track again. Because in the end there is no alternative. We can go through another cycle of bloodshed and years of people killing each other, but they will come back, I think, to those two basic principles in the end.
Question
Can I bring you on to domestic issues and ask why Henry McLeish has resigned, but Stephen Byers hasn’t?
Prime Minister
Well, in respect of Henry McLeish, I think he is going to make a statement later. I just simply want to say this about Henry, that he was somebody who has given a lot of his time to public service. I think it is a very great shame what has happened. He was a distinguished First Minister, really growing into that job. And when I worked with him for many, many years, I found him to be a very decent and loyal and respected colleague, so I am very sorry about what has happened. In respect of the other thing, I think Stephen has dealt with that, and I don’t think the two issues are the same at all.
Question
Mr Prime Minister, and Your Majesty. Yesterday you came back from a meeting with the US President, George W. Bush, and you said clearly that the battle on terror would not be resolved without a resolution in the Middle East crisis. How did the Americans respond to that and what do you think their role should be? And also in regards to Jordan’s role in resolving the crisis.
Prime Minister
I think in relation to the first point, what President Bush and I were both saying was that of course you can’t make the pursuit of closing down the terrorist network in Afghanistan conditional in some sense on the Middle East Peace Process. However, on the other hand we do want to see progress there, and we recognise that the absence of progress is the context in which much of the Arab and Moslem world views the whole international crisis. So it is important for us to try and bring about a resolution. We of course need to have partners in doing that, and I think the role of Jordan in relation to this is obviously important and in part, for very obvious reasons of its position, in part because of the respect in which His Majesty is held, and I know that they will play their part. Jordan will, I am sure, play its part in trying to help bring about this process. But really what I believe we need to do is is to get, if you like, the minimum steps to try and calm this situation and gain some albeit small amount of trust building on either side so that we can then find the room in which a process can move again. It has to happen. I’ve got no doubt about it, and I think there are some, again albeit small, signs of hope, but we have to build on them and do it quickly.
delicious
digg
facebook
