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The King and Nancy Pelosi's Regret

Dr. Ahmed Samara Al-Za'abi

4 min read

This style in which His Majesty spoke reminded me of Ms. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives and the first woman in American parliamentary history to serve as Speaker of the House twice, who has a strong and positive relationship with His Majesty and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. During an interview with Al-Mamlaka channel, she spoke about advice given by King Abdullah II during a joint session of the US Congress, both the House and the Senate, twenty years ago, in which he appealed to Congress and the American administration to play an active and influential role in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict before this conflict turned into a hotbed of strife in the region and the world at large. Ms. Pelosi admitted, with a tone of regret, when she said: "If we had followed his (King Abdullah's) path at that time, then everyone, not just America, would be in a better place than we are now."

The US Congress knew for certain that King Abdullah II's advice was visionary regarding the future of the region as it would become, and it has indeed become as he said, and that military solutions and the fortress mentality would not achieve security and stability for their proponents nor for the entire region. However, political and economic power centers and lobby groups working on behalf of Israel thwarted any attempt to adopt any policy or program that did not achieve the ambitions of Israeli governments to entrench the occupation on religious and expansionist foundations, in addition to the weakness of an effective Arab presence, such that only the Jordanian voice remained echoing in international forums, especially when the Palestinian cause is at the heart of the event and the context of the discourse.

Regret and the King's Speech:

His Majesty King Abdullah II's speech included many pivotal points related to the Palestinian cause and the practices of the Israeli government that fall outside international legitimacy and law. In this context, it is necessary to point to two main relevant points:

1. His Majesty spoke about attention and focus in its geopolitical dimensions, not just cognitive ones. The lack of focus and the systematic distraction by Israel, and the United States' adaptation to this approach, led Israel to persist in its aggressive policies and create divisive conflicts and crises at the regional level with the aim of shifting attention and focus from the essence of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is the Palestinian cause, to unimportant secondary issues.

2. His Majesty's warning and appeal, which has continued for two decades on UN platforms and the international stage, that leaving the Arab-Israeli conflict unresolved will end any hope for establishing a viable Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders. He said, addressing the attendees with a firm hand gesture, that this council, the "General Assembly," and implicitly the "Security Council," bears political and moral responsibility for the absence of a solution to this conflict because UN resolutions related to Israel have been, and remain for decades, unimplemented and have remained "ink on paper." Will the ignoring of this appeal continue, and will the regret continue?

Finally, we say to Ms. Nancy Pelosi, in order to dispel regret and revive hope, there is still a promising horizon for finding opportunities and solutions and returning to the contents of the King's speech, which constitutes a moderate and just approach to ensure the realization of the dreams and ambitions of the peoples of the region and future generations to live in security, peace, and dignity, whereby the major powers, led by the United States of America, prove the sincerity of their positions and principles and strengthen compliance with international legitimacy resolutions, especially those related to the Palestinian cause, while emphasizing the fact that admitting regret today is more courageous and wise so that tomorrow is not filled with more regret and pain.

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