Monarch rebukes Netanyahu acidly

JERUSALEM - King Hussein of Jordan has sent Benjamin Netanyahu an extraordinarily harshly worded telegram that reportedly questions…

JERUSALEM - King Hussein of Jordan has sent Benjamin Netanyahu an extraordinarily harshly worded telegram that reportedly questions whether the Israeli prime minister is genuinely committed to reconciliation, writes David Horovitz.

Having indicated support for the Palestinian position, King Hussein sent a telegram to Mr Netanyahu on Monday in which he reportedly wrote: "You are destroying the peace, and I don't have an ounce of trust in you.

In a tone of despair and deep cynicism, the king reportedly added that he had been so infuriated by Israel's recent refusal to allow him to fly Mr Yasser Arafat, the PLO leader, home to Gaza from Amman, he had contemplated getting into the plane in which he had flown to make peace with the late Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and piloting it to Tel Aviv without seeking Israeli permission. "I'd like to see whether, if I do so," he is quoted as having written to Mr Netanyahu, "you would order your cannons to open fire on the peace plane."

David Horovitz is managing editor of the Jerusalem Report