Realist Fareed Zakaria did a great interview with King Abdullah of Jordan on Sunday where the King said over and over again what no one likes to hear in the U.S.: the Palestinian grievance is feeding all the problems in the region and stoking the Iran threat, and Obama is losing credibility. The King said the two-state-solution is the only thing out there but it may be finished– we may have crossed that line in the sand on "the viability of a two- state solution" (I think it’s probably crossed, Kingster), and if it’s a one-state solution, this will lead to instability in the region because the Israelis are so terrified of it. (Agreed; and this is part of the job of this website, whatever happens, to help my stockaded people climb down from old wooden ideas.)

Zakaria parrots two Israel-lobby threads to the King. He says, Why shouldn’t the Palestinians fold into Jordan? And isn’t it, per Bernard Lewis, Arab repression that’s feeding terrorism? Abdullah swats both aside. Says that Palestinians are Palestinians (as we reported here last month; gee it would be nice if someone interviewed some goddamn Palestinians about what they think, I am really really curious). As to progress, Abdullah says Yes but even these efforts are stymied by the sense that a Zionist (neocon) plot is behind it. I agree: ending the Israel/Palestine grievance would be a giant liberation throughout the Arab world.

Here are some of Abdullah’s smart comments: