Wisdom worth sharing, words worth remembering.
Nothing is more useless in developing a nation's economy than a gun and nothing blocks the road to social development more than the financial burden of war. War is the arch enemy of national progress and the modern scourge of civilized men.
God help us from those who believe that they are the sole possessors of truth. How we manage at times to agree willingly to become prisoners within our own minds and souls of beliefs and ideas on which we can never be flexible.
We respect opposition to any position or policy. But we believe that the opinion that should prevail and be respected is that of the majority.
Let me say this loud and clear. There is a world of difference between terrorist acts and the Islamic Shari'a. Islam is not only a religion but a way of life. And at its heart lie the sacred principles of tolerance and dialogue.
It would behoove the world to become used to this fact: that without a just solution to the Palestine tragedy there can be no stable peace in the Middle East.
The link between peace and stability on the one hand and social and economic growth on the other is dialectic. Peace poverty and backwardness cannot mix in one region.
I want to say a simple thing that the dividing line exists not between Jordan and Israel but between the proponents of peace and the opponents of peace.
Without peace and without the overwhelming majority of people that believe in peace defending it working for it believing in it security can never really be a reality.
We belong to the camp of peace. We believe in peace. We believe that our one God wishes us to live in peace and wishes peace upon us for these are His teachings to all the followers of the three great monotheistic religions the Children of Abraham.
We believe democracy to be the only real guarantor of stability and we have sought to create a 'Jordanian model' that might also inspire others in our region. I wish democracy and peace to be my legacy to my people and the shield of generations to come.
Under the auspices of peace our comprehensive renaissance will be built and it will be a model for those who wish to emulate it in the greater Arab homeland.
God willing we shall come to a stage where the world looks at the Palestinian question and Palestinian rights on Palestinian national soil as well as the questions of the occupied Syrian and Lebanese territories. These are the bases on which peace will be built.
