The king urged for unity among feuding Palestinian factions, saying the time has come for statehood. “We emphatically tell Israel that ending the occupation of Arab and Palestinian lands, withdrawing from there and implementing legitimate international resolutions are the only way to realize just, permanent and comprehensive peace,” said the staunch U.S. ally who maintains cordial relations with Israel under a 1994 peace treaty.

Abdullah said a peaceful Arab-Israeli settlement would “guarantee a safe future for the region’s peoples and its coming generations.”

“We also say to the Palestinians that strength is in unity and weakness in disunity; so, unite your ranks and seize the available opportunity to realize peace and establish your independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” he said. Abdullah spoke at the opening session of a newly elected parliament, where his loyalists handily defeated opposition in elections held two weeks ago. The king vowed to continue fighting what he said was a “campaign of distortion being waged against our honorable religion by rejecting extremism, violence, and takfiri thought” — a reference to the extremist doctrine, which regards even non-militant Muslims as infidels.

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