VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF TREATIES
Bi-national Chambers of Commerce
Proud to
serve his country
By Ksenia
Svetlova
For many Israelis the relations
with Jordan resemble a glass of water. The optimists consider it
half full, while the pessimists regard it half empty. On one side, this month
Israel marked the
anniversary with its closest Arab neighbor and former foe, which today is a
partner and a friend. On the other – the peace remains somewhat chilly, many
Jordanians object to normalization with Israel and the potential of relations is
far from being actualized. In any case, the 15-th anniversary of peace between
Israel and Jordan generated plenty of media and public attention in Israel,
making Mr Ali Alayed, the ambassador of
Jordan,
an especially busy man. Last fifteen years were extremely turbulent and rich in
events pregnant with dangerous consequences for both countries, and yet they
also years of peace. The collapse of peace process followed by intifada Al-Aqsa,
the disengagement from Gaza and the rise of Islamic HAMAS party to power, the
Lebanon war of 2006, then Gaza war in 2009, assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and
death of King Hussein – all of these fateful events took their tool, and still
the two countries managed to maintain normal and consistent relations. In an
exclusive interview to the Diplomatic Club, ambassador Al-Ayed presents the
Jordanian perspective, talking about hopes, visions and disappointments of last
fifteen years., he warns
Ambassador Alayed works in
Israel for the past 3.5 years. Prior to his nomination as the ambassador of
Jordan to Israel, he served in Cairo and Washington. He was also a political
advisor to the prime minister and the chief of staff at the Jordanian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. As a member of a Jordanian team during the negotiations with
Israel he is familiar with the historic circumstances of the treaty, its
objectives and potential.
DC – You've been working in
Israel for quite some time now. How could you describe these three and a half
years of your life?
Ambassador Al-Ayed - Never a
dull moment , you always wake up to some kind of news. Two wars, many changes in
internal political arena…But you always have to stay professional. I was sent
here to serve my county to help to create peace, and I'm proud to do that.
DC – 15 years ago Jordan became
the second Arab country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. Back
then there was a lot of optimism about the future, it seemed that many other
countries will follow along, yet until now all these dreams didn't materialize.
Why?
Ambassador Al-Ayed - For us in
Jordan the peace with Israel is a commitment. The peace between us is formal and
irreversible. However, today, 15 years after signing the treaty we are far from
realizing the enormous potential of our relations. Absent realizing the two
state solution, the ties won't grow stronger and expand no matter how diligent
our governments work. As a member of Jordan Delegation to Peace Process with the
State of Israel I'm fully aware of what the plan was, what could we really
accomplish. We felt so much optimism back them, expecting that the Arab-Israeli
conflict had come to an end, with comprehensive peace agreement just around the
corner. Unfortunately, 15 years on we seem to be further from that objective
which appeared to be, in 1995, so near.
DC – You mentioned that Jordan
is fully committed to peace with Israel, and that the peace is irreversible, yet
many Israelis are aware of the huge gap in perception of peace between the
leadership and the people on the street. The professional associations boycott
Israel, its flag is being burned in the parliament and many people demand to
expel the Israeli ambassador from the Kingdom and to return the ambassador from
Tel Aviv. How can you explain this phenomena?
Ambassador Al-Ayed - I cannot
ignore or deny what you say – no matter what the Jordanian government says or
does diligently – people still see what happens in Gaza West Bank and East
Jerusalem, and it antagonizes the crowd. People are very much affected by what's
going on here. I don't think that the Jordanians just wake up in the morning and
say we want to do this or that without any reason. This is not the problem – the
problem is Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I know the feeling of the Israelis
about security – I think that the Arab peace initiative answers their quest for
security. I call to all to read the text of the peace initiative, I think it is
a historic offer, 22 counties come with a unified position, offering Israel
peace and security it longs for.
The core of the conflict is a
Palestinian issue and this was identified by the Arab world when they came up
with a Arab peace initiative in Beirut in 2002. If you solve the Palestinian
issue, you solve the Arab Israeli conflict. The Arab Peace Initiative suggests
the return of all occupied territories and return of normal relations with
everybody. The Arab Peace Initiative is a gate not only to Palestinian, but to
the whole Arab world and even more – all 57 Islamic countries.
DC- Do you pay the price for
your relations with Israel
like Egypt did at the time?
Ambassador Al-Ayed - I think
it's not a matter of a price. I consider this not a win-lose, but a win- win
situation. Strategically Jordan is committed to peace, The Hashemite kingdom
has been known as peace loving country. We are committed to assist in every way
to achieve this goal for we recognize and know that a significant dimension of
our bilateral relations can only grow and expand in the context of the
realization of the two state solution and the achievement of comprehensive
peace. We believe that no Palestinian should suffer from curfews and closures,
roadblocks, land confiscation, home demolition and daily threats to life and
property. We also recognize and understand how important the security issue is
to Israelis. I believe that the only effective and iron clad recipe is the two
state solution and the comprehensive peace in the
Middle East.
DC - In 1967 22 Arab countries
said no to normalization and no to dialogue. Today 22 countries offer a
peaceful solution for Arab-Israeli conflict – does it mean that the region has
changed?
Ambassador Al-Ayed – Not only
the region, the whole world had changed. Today peace is a necessity, not a
luxury for us, in this part of the world. We see the reaction to Arab Israeli
conflict – there is now fair approach to help out the whole region, we want
peace, we don't want war, we don't want dark future for our children!
DC – What are the alternatives?
What if the peace track won't be restarted soon?
Ambassador Al-Ayed - I think
you don't want to be dragged into non-peace agenda….people in this region want
peace, it's clear. But if we don't have any progress in the peace front, the
whole region will be dragged into darkness. And this will put in danger the
whole region.
DC – Let's talk about the
bright side of things. Although the ambitious and large scale projects as the
Peace canal remained only on paper, and yet there is a proven record of
accomplishments in fields of trade, tourism ,water cooperation…
Ambassador Al-Ayed – It's true,
there is economic cooperation , but not at the level that we wanted to achieve.
There is cooperation in tourism, water, Aqaba-Eilat – but we could have so much
more, it would help our economy, well being, and this would contribute to the
front of peace. I don't really care about the economy in that sense until we
solved our problems. We have to think out of the box and tackle the issues with
a real action plan, The status quo is no good for anybody and it's harmful for
us and our future.
I know that the Israeli people
want peace and the Arab world wants peace. I hope when we'll meet again on 16
anniversary, the situation will be very different, that we will have an
independent Palestinian state and a solution for a comprehensive peace between
Israel and its Arab neighbors…
|