A King comes to campus

King Abdullah II of Jordan issued a challenge to the scholars of the Wilson School to work toward the end of the 60-year-old conflict between Palestine and Israel and suggested that a new Palestinian state may be the best way to reach peace in a speech sponsored by the Wilson School in Richardson Auditorium on Friday afternoon.

“At long last, this year, right now, we are in the best possible position to resolve 60 years of conflict between Israel and Palestine,” he said in an address to a hall full of students, ambassadors and community members who gave the 46-year-old king three standing ovations in just over 20 minutes.

The Oxford graduate cited the importance of immediate action. “If we miss today’s opportunities, peace will be set back, perhaps for decades,” King Abdullah said. “This year is an unprecedented opportunity to reach a comprehensive settlement between Israel and all its neighbors.”

But “Israel’s security cannot depend indefinitely on occupation, walls and the Israeli military. Real security for Israel will occur when it is a neighbor among neighbors, an economy within economies and a people within peoples,” he said.

King Abdullah also emphasized the mediating role that the United States could play in ensuring that peace.

“America is the only world power capable of ensuring that the parties stay on track and on time in their current negotiations,” he said. He added that failing to achieve peace immediately would make it “significantly harder for the countries of the Middle East to work in partnership with America in the future” and that radical ideologies would take over.

He also noted that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was only a part of bringing long-term stability to the Middle East. That is where he felt the “gifted, ambitious youth of America” could help.

“Speaking here today, I am especially aware of the role of scholars and students in making progress happen,” the king said. “Where others see unsolvable problems, you see paths that can lead to answers and specific action. This is the tradition of great scholarship of which you are a part.”

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“Optimism does not come easily in academia,” he added, “but I do know about the visionary thinking that is the scholar’s gift. Today, I ask you to employ visionary thinking to consider a ... strategy that will ensure a viable, stable, prosperous Middle East.”

The King, who once acted in an episode of “Star Trek: Voyager,” fittingly concluded his speech with a quote from former Princeton and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879: “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. There must be, not a balance of power, but a balance of peace; not organized rivalries, but an organized peace.”

“This,” the King said, “is the challenge, this is the opportunity, and we must succeed.”

Casey Boyles ’11 found that message “inspiring.”

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“People talk about politics as something that doesn’t change rapidly,” she said. “But his message of urgency was striking because he talked about how we could do something now — not tomorrow or in a few years — but this year — to end 60 years of strife.”

“He gave a moderated voice to the Middle East, but it was such a short speech that he couldn’t get into specifics,” said Benny Padilla GS, an MPA candidate in the Wilson School. “I’m glad that he doesn’t drive most of his argument on ideology, but rather on the power of the people in his region.”

Not all who attended the talk were pleased with its content, however.

“It was very brief, and he spoke in very general and vacuous terms,” said Mehvesh Ahmed GS, a Ph.D. student in the Wilson School. “What was especially disappointing is that there were only three questions taken, and none were really answered.”

Vinayak Venkataraman ’11 added, “It was great to hear King Abdullah speak, but in regards to the actual substance of the speech, I feel the king outlined the issue but did not offer any concrete solution. The assembly seemed more like a glorified press conference than an actual discussion on substantive policy.”

The King is due to meet with President Bush at the White House on Tuesday.