Jordanian King on Berlin Visit

In his meeting with the German president on Tuesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan thanked Johannes Rau for Germany’s engagement for peace in the Middle East. The king and his wife, Queen Rania, are currently on a three-day visit to Germany, the monarch’s first state visit here.

Business and diplomacy

Talks with German leaders will focus both on economic and political matters.

On Wednesday Abdullah will meet with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to talk about economic cooperation and the consequences for Jordan of a war in Iraq.

The business segment of Abdullah’s meetings with German leaders hinges on expanding Jordanian-European trade relations. “We want to achieve the full free trade agreement status with the European Union as quickly as possible,” the king told the Deutsche Welle.

Equally crucial, if not more so, are talks about a possible US military offensive against Iraq. Like all Arab leaders, the king welcomed the German chancellor’s critical response to American threats of belligerence.

Allies on both sides

War in Iraq would put Abdullah’s country in a strategically difficult position. “Jordan is stuck in the middle,” the king told Deutsche Welle.

The country maintains good relations both with Iraq and the US. In the 1991 Gulf War the King Abdullah I, the current monarch’s late father, sided with Saddam Hussein -- to the Americans' disappointment.

However, this is not expected to happen again. Abdullah has already made it clear that he’s not in favor of war but rather anxious that the international community’s focus should return to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“That is the core issue of the Middle East. And all of a sudden we are being side-tracked into a secondary problem. That frustrates all of us, because we know that until you solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem the whole area will continue to be instable.”

Spurring on the peace process and avoiding war is essential to Abdullah: Some sixty percent of Jordan’s inhabitants are Palestinians - civil unrest is expected there if America goes to war with Iraq.

Western-oriented

King Abdullah succeeded to the throne in 1999, hours after his father’s death. The former monarch’s first son stemmed from his marriage to the British officer’s daughter Toni Gardiner.

The 40-year old was educated in Britain and the US and pursued a career as an officer in the Jordanian army before he was crowned king. Abdullah speaks fluent English. His knowledge of Arabic, however, is regarded as poor.

Abdullah’s wife, Queen Rania, also spoke out on Monday against military conflict in Iraq, in an interview with the German news agency DPA. She too emphasized the importance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the Middle East, adding that a new war in the Middle East would “just add to the feeling of anger and frustration” in the region and lead to more terrorism.

The 32-year Palestinian has in the past often attracted attention for her outspokenness and, in particular, for her championing the rights of women in the Muslim world.