THE WAGES OF WITHDRAWAL:

Jordan's king reaches out to Jews, hits radical Islam (Julia Duin, September 22, 2005, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Jordan's King Abdullah II told a gathering of American rabbis yesterday that Jews and Muslims are irrevocably "tied together by culture and history" and that he is willing to take radical measures to combat Muslim extremists.

"We face a common threat: extremist distortions of religion and the wanton acts of violence that derive therefrom," the king said. "Such abominations have already divided us from without for far too long."

Criticizing al Qaeda terrorists Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi for "abuses of our faith," the king, speaking at a heavily guarded lunch meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Northwest, made clear he wishes to establish himself as the voice of moderate Islam.

The point being that he has competition for the title.

MORE:
Hamas chief hints at compromise (BEN LYNFIELD, 9/22/05, The Scotsman)

THE militant Islamic group Hamas could one day accept the existence of the state of Israel and negotiate, one of its political leaders said yesterday in an unprecedented sign of compromise.

For years, Hamas has criticised the ruling Fatah movement of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, for allegedly selling out claims to all of historic Palestine by recognising Israel and confining the Palestinian struggle to the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

But Mohammed Ghazal, a respected figure within the movement from the West Bank city of Nablus, said yesterday: "The [Hamas] charter is not the Koran.

"Historically, we believe all of Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, but we're talking now about reality, about political solutions. The realities are different."

The reality is what Ariel Sharon and George Bush made it.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 22, 2005 10:06 AM