Jordan’s Abdullah: Israel must choose — ‘apartheid or democracy’
King lauds ‘very strong’ relationship with Netanyahu, but says time may have already run out on the two-state solution
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel

Israel faces a choice between “apartheid or democracy” but it may already be “too late” for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, King Abdullah II of Jordan warned in an interview published Monday.
The wide-ranging interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic touched on such topics as the personal history of the king, the effects of the Arab Spring in Jordan and the Arab world, efforts at reform in Jordan, and Jordan’s relationship with Israel.
Abdullah said his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “very strong. Our discussions have really improved.” The king stressed that despite his push for political reform in his country, “I don’t want a government to come in and say, ‘We repudiate the peace treaty with Israel.’ ”
Abdullah, a strong advocate for a two-state solution, said that “it could be too late already” to implement it. “I don’t know. Part of me is worried that is already past us,” he added.
If two states west of the Jordan River are not created, then according to the king Israel will face the stark choice of “apartheid or democracy.”
“The practical question is, can Israel exert permanent control over Palestinians who are disenfranchised ad infinitum, or does it eventually become a South Africa, which couldn’t survive as a pariah state?” Abdullah said, adding that if Israel wants to remain a Jewish state, “the only way” is to have a neighboring Palestinian state, too.
The king expressed some hope that US President Barack Obama, as a second-term president, could have more leverage in a push for a renewed peace process, but said that, if Obama fails, “after four years, it’s over.”