The interview was exceptional, and the King was very clear and straightforward, and showed a worrying level of concern and disappointment from the whole situation in the area with special emphasis on the Palestinian issue.

In the interview the King presented a bleak overview of the political situation and presented a very tight time schedule for the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of 2007. This is such a race against time that is difficult to be won.

Jordan feels the heat of the moment, and is in the heart of the struggle between moderates aiming for a stable peace in the region, and the extremists working efficiently for an open confrontation. It goes without saying that the extremists are winning now, and the King says in a very honest expressions that "we are running out of arguments".

Make no mistake. The Hashemite regime in Jordan has always been pro-western, aiming for a peaceful solution for the Palestinian problem that results in a stable and viable Palestinian state. This means relieving the demographic and political pressure on Jordan to help the country make more progress towards stability. Jordan is in no mood for military confrontations with Israel and cannot engage in a political confrontation unless whole-heartedly supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria all together, which is such an elusive hope.

The King monitors the political situation very closely and I guess he sees danger emerging from five main sources:

1- The Israeli occupation to Palestine and sufferings of Palestinians which is becoming more dangerous with the complete lack of any desire for peace from Israel. The King described Israel in his interview as living in a fortress. He is also much concerned with the lack of political statements from the Hamas government who does not want to negotiate with Israel but blames all the Arab world for the siege of the Palestinian people.  The suffering of the Palestinian people is unbearable and will ignite a continuous wave of violence, extremist and conflicts that the Arab moderates cannot fight back.

2- The full unconditional support from the current US administration to Israel's aggressive unilateral policies. The USA has a completely flawed perspective of the real root causes of the Middle East conflict and they have more pro-zionist approaches than the Israeli left, for example which is more supportive of ending the occupation!

3- The gradual disintegration of Iraq and the emergence of sunni-shi'ite divide and the grave consequences of breaking up Iraq into three pieces with the most impoverished and extremist area (middle) geographically linked to Jordan and presenting a direct source of trouble to the Kingdom.

4- The continuous emergence of Iran as a vital regional player. Iran is the biggest winner from the USA toppling of Saddam regime and has won many points in the latest confrontation between Hizbullah and Israel. President Najad is acting intelligently to disengage Iran from the tolerant and open Khatemi era and is finding the Arab-Israeli conflict as the best platform to strengthen his internal position, regional power and political confrontation with the USA.

5- terrorism: this is a continuous threat against Jordan based on the increase in the number and impact of terrorist cells in the region. What is most frightening is that terrorism is gaining more popular support thanks to the crimes committed by Israel and the USA and the lack of any positive developments achieved by Arab moderates.

A tough time to be a leader with a moderate and peaceful vision, with no body offering genuine help. However, Jordan has always showed resilience and adaptability and I think the King will still be able to have his meticulous calculations right at the end.