Poverty, ignorance, suspicion and fear are now the "highly-combustible fuel that ignites conflict and energises the dangerous and pernicious myth that our cultures, our faiths and civilisations are inherently incompatible", President Mary McAleese told a joint session of the royal parliament in Amman yesterday.
It was the second day of the President's State visit to Jordan, where a quota system allows for at least six women in parliament. The attendance in the public gallery included six religious leaders and a large number of Jordan's 150-strong expat Irish community.
The President's traditional Arabic greeting used here and in Saudi Arabia - Peace be with you and the mercy of God and His blessings - was greeted as usual with applause.
In a warmly-received address, she noted that the two countries had many things in common.
Both had been "absorbed unhappily into larger empires"; both had gained national independence "at considerable cost".
"And as small countries we have had to work very, very hard to make our own distinctive contribution to a world where much of our environment is dominated by larger or more powerful neighbours."
She said she could not avoid referring to "tensions of recent weeks".
She was "very conscious of the sense of hurt and anger felt in the Islamic world following the provocative publication" of images of the Prophet Muhammed.
Yet at the same time "it is important that we resist violent attempts to exploit these powerful and righteous emotions by those who would wish to drive us apart - and in this regard I am proud to record here today the exemplary approach taken by the Islamic community in Ireland and its leaders.
"They have expressed their views very clearly in recent days, and they have also worked assiduously to maintain calm."
To applause from the chamber, she said: "We, who are leaders, have a clear and pressing obligation to build new bridges between our peoples and to invigorate the links between Europe and the Middle East."
She said the Quartet Roadmap "remains the only available framework for a settlement" of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
She saluted Jordan for its assertion of "the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to their own state and you have courageously recognised Israel's right to live in peace and security".
Afterwards she travelled downtown to be presented with a golden key to Amman by the mayor.
She then went to Mount Nebo, where Moses looked out over the Promised Land. She next visited the baptismal site of Jesus at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, and later, beside the Church of St John the Baptist, walked on to the bank of the river Jordan. There Orthodox clerics performed the Blessing of the River Jordan on the President and Dr McAleese.