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…