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Thursday, October 01, 2015

Jordan's king ignored Palestinian issue in UN speech

Remember how upset Saeb Erekat was that President Obama didn't mention Palestinians even once during his UN speech?

It turns out that the king of Jordan placed exactly the same priority on "Palestine" that Obama did.

King Abdullah's speech at the UN Monday did not use the word "Palestine" or "Palestinian" once.

His entire speech was about Muslim extremism where he put forth a seven part strategy for countering the ideology of terror.

The only oblique reference to Israel was an astonishingly hypocritical but parenthetical section on Jerusalem that he tried to put in context of Islamic extremism:
Sixth, by all means, let us be intolerant of intolerance! Extremists rely on the apathy of moderates. But moderation does not mean accepting those who trample on others and reject all who differ. Today’s global fight is not between peoples, communities or religions. It is between all moderates, of all faiths, against all extremists, in all religions. Leaders of every country, every belief, every neighbourhood, need to take a clear and public stand against intolerance of any kind. This includes respecting all places where God is worshipped, whether mosque, church, synagogue or temple.

And nothing can be more important and can have more impact in framing this respect and coexistence than Jerusalem. The Hashemite Custodianship of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian Holy Sites is a sacred duty, and we join Muslims and Christians everywhere in rejecting threats to the Holy Places and the Arab character of this Holy City.
Yes, King Abdullah is ignoring the importance of Jerusalem to Jews in the context of "coexistence" where Jerusalem is a purely Arab city.

But he is also ignoring the Palestinian issue altogether because it is insignificant next to the larger problems in the Arab world.

Will Saeb Erekat slam King Abdullah for this (almost certainly deliberate) slight?