Jordan warns window for peace fading in ME

Speaking on a visit to Japan, a key donor to the region, Abdullah made an impassioned call for the world to restore hope for Palestinians amid chaos in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere in the region.

"I believe that the window of opportunity is diminishing and it won't be long before we can say that the futures of the Palestinians are gone," he told the Japan Institute of International Affairs.

"2007 is a very critical year, and if we don't create a process to move forward in the next six or seven months, then I don't think we ever will. And the outcome of that will be disastrous for all of us, Israel included."

He said the international community needed to prove to both the Palestinian and Israeli people that a two-state solution of an independent Israel and Palestine was "irreversible".

"If we don't move forward, I fear we will find ourselves in a situation where we will never have a two-state solution," he said.

"Therefore we will never have peace between Israelis and Palestinians, therefore we will never have peace between Israelis and Arabs, and therefore we will condemn our region for another decade or two of violence, which none of us can afford."

Abdullah, who held talks Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is seen as a key Western ally in the Middle East, with his kingdom straddling Israel, the Palestinian territories and Iraq.

He visited Japan amid turmoil in the region, with clashes in the Palestinian territories between rival factions, pressure on the Western-backed government in Lebanon and daily carnage in Iraq.

Abdullah said he told US President George W. Bush, who visited Jordan last month for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, that the world needed to look at the three Middle Eastern crises all at once.

"We have to know how to walk and chew gum at the same time," he said. "We cannot focus on just one issue."

Abdullah said he supported Japan's bid for greater involvement in the region. Japan, the world's second largest economy, relies almost entirely on Arab countries and Iran for its oil.

"You can't afford instability in our part of the world," Abdullah said.

"You are in a very unique position as a strong member of the international community because you have not involved in politics. Therefore you are considered an honest broker and that is increasingly important," he said.

On a visit to the region in July, Japan's then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed building a "peace and prosperity corridor" in the West Bank.

Under the initiative, Japan would work with Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians to develop the West Bank's broken economy, including designing an agro-industrial park.

Abdullah said he supported the initiative but that it was no substitute for a political solution.

"The people living on the ground won't buy in into any economic formula or initiative unless they are guaranteed that the political process is moving forward," he said.