Lyse Doucet: Do you think that the resolution that has been emerging from New York is too pro-Israeli, as the Lebanese say? 

King Abdullah: Well, at the end of the day, we need to support this Lebanese government, and all of us need to stand behind the Lebanese people and [Prime Minister Fuad] Siniora’s government. They are in the best position, I think, to articulate what is needed, and so we are supporting the seven-point plan of Siniora, we have Arab foreign ministers going to the UN at the moment to try and bridge the differences between what the UN is saying and between what the Lebanese-Arab position is, and hopefully there will be a positive outcome, but today as opposed to tomorrow. 

Doucet: But they say it’s a double standard, that Hizbollah has been told to stop all its attacks, and Israel has been told to stop its offensive military operations, which leaves it to Israel to decide what is offensive and defensive. 

King: This is part of I think part of the bridging that needs to be done... 

Doucet: You think there is a double standard? 

King: Well, at the end of the day, we need to get back to the peace process, and if one side or another has some leeway to be able to continue military incursions on either side, then we’re not going to solve the problem. It’s getting people to the peace tables as quickly as possible. I think it’s all become very clear to all of us in the region that any unilateral approach does not work anymore. Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon, but without sitting around the table and discussing with the Lebanese, pulled out of Gaza without really sitting down with the Palestinian Authority and discussing how to finally end the Palestinian problem. And if we don’t actually, it’s not the process... we need to actually come to negotiations at the end of the day, that the Israelis and Arabs know what the future is. The grey areas at this stage don’t help us anymore. 

Doucet: You talk about going back to the peace table, but in fact many Arabs have said that this draft resolution is a recipe for continuing the war. 

King: This is why we have to have, I think, supporting the Lebanese at this stage, because if we can’t get the Lebanese a hundred per cent into this, if we can’t reach out to the Lebanese people, and what’s been so sad about this from the beginning of the difficulties in Lebanon has faced, we’ve seen a lot of the Western countries and the United States also say that we will stand by you and we will be there by your side. The minute action started, everybody left the Lebanese alone. We need these Lebanese people; we need the Lebanese government to succeed. You know how Lebanese  over the past twenty years have been able to really rise up from the rubble to build their country move in the future. It’s being knocked back into the Stone Age. 

Doucet: Is the United States not listening to voices like yours?

King: I know what all of us have been saying to them; that we need a ceasefire as quickly as possible. The discussions that we’ve had with the leadership in those countries is that we understand we need to move to a ceasefire as quickly as possible. We’re not seeing it on the ground. 

Doucet: So when you say that to the United States, when you say that to Tony Blair, to George W. Bush; we need an immediate ceasefire, and they don’t listen to you, they don’t listen to the Lebanese leaders, how do you read that? 

King: The discussions that I’ve had with both President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair is I think they were extremely concerned about the escalation of violence, about civilian casualties, about the infrastructure so they were seeing it, the same way I was. They felt that maybe they have a different way, as we’re seeing in the United Nations, on how to be able to achieve it, of trying to get a final ceasefire and moving to the political process. We, I think as the Arab countries and Lebanon, also see it slightly differently, and again I am hoping that you know, we can bridge those differences in the United Nations in the next couple of days. If not, then this thing is going to continue for a few more days or weeks, and the loss of lives on either side are going to continue. The more that happens, the more difficult it is for us to put the differences behind and get people to the table. 

Doucet: Do you worry that Hizbollah appears to have been strengthened, not destroyed in this war? 

King: I don’t think anybody wins in this war, and ... 

Doucet: Hizbollah definitely judged by the reaction on the Arab street... 

King: I think there is a lot of emotional response to Hizbollah because at the end of the day, a lot of Arabs feel that this is a resistance group that is fighting against an occupying power, and we’ve seen that in other Arab territories, and how long is this going to continue? You can’t destroy Hizbollah, not as a movement. So, okay you have the bombs today, tomorrow, or after tomorrow, we will have another Hizbollah, if not in Lebanon, we’ll have it maybe in Jordan, we’ll have it in Egypt, we’ll have it elsewhere if we don’t solve the core issues. And again, the core issue is the Israeli-Palestinian one, and the Israeli-Arab one, if we don’t solve these problems, then for the next ten, fifteen, twenty years it’s going to get worse and worse and worse, Israelis, Arabs, Palestinians are going to pay for it, but also the international community. We are actually being sucked into an abyss, and the moderate countries that are now standing out there saying look, what the hell is going on, we’re being marginalised. 

Doucet: So the whole region has become radicalised... 

King: As this issue continues, so does it become more radical and the moderate countries are becoming less emboldened to stick their necks out because you know, we believe that the international community will stand behind Lebanon to try and safeguard the future of the Lebanese people. The Lebanon that we knew is dead now. Now the challenge for us is do we have a chance to build a new page for Lebanon, a good one, or is this going to just go into destructive mode and suck the rest of us into this issue? 

Doucet: You feel cornered then; you have close ties with Washington, which you need. You have a peace deal with Israel, but the streets are saying to you that Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah chief is the new Arab hero. 

King: I think that the United States, Britain, the European countries, as well as Israel have got to listen to what we are saying. We are partners for peace but we’re not seeing the partners, sort of, challenging us at the same level. 

Doucet: Why aren’t they listening? Because many have interpreted this as being a green light for Israel to destroy Hizbollah. Well, why aren’t they listening? What is their agenda then? 

King: Well, the problem is I don’t think there is an agenda out there. I think it’s piecemeal ways of dealing with the situation, whether it’s the Israeli-Palestinian one, whether it’s Lebanon, or whether it’s Iraq or the issue of Iran. I don’t think there is an overall strategy, and this is why I think the Egyptians, and Jordanians, and Saudis, with a lot of Arab countries, are trying to get a unified position, because we’re not seeing the international community dealing with the issues in the Middle East comprehensively. Each time we have a crisis, it gets far more unstable, and the endgame, or where we’re going to be leading as the Middle East in the future, is very dim. I can’t read the political map of the Middle East anymore, because I just see so many heavy clouds that are over our shoulders at this stage and I really feel and fear for the future of the Middle East. 

Doucet: Condoleezza Rice called it the birth pangs of a new Middle East, but it ...

King: A new Middle East? The way I’m looking at this new Middle East, I’m seeing what is happening in Somalia, I’m seeing what’s happening in Gaza, I see what’s happening in Lebanon, I’m seeing what’s happening in Iraq. This is a new Middle East? 

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