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Editor's note: The following as been slightly edited for grammar and clarity

The Globe and Mail: First off, you've been quite outspoken about what's happened in Gaza. It surprised a lot of people in the West, I'm wondering, first of all, did it surprise you — the rapid takeover (by Hamas) — and how do you think should the international community deal with Gaza now?

King Abdullah II: You know, we've been sort of juggling with three flash points: the Palestinian, the Lebanese and the Iraqi one. I think for the past year I kept on putting the Palestinian one in position number one. Obviously, this is all in relative terms because they all, I think, are in a very sensitive position. I think it did take us by surprise to actually see what physically happened in Gaza. The important thing now is to be able to get people focused and to move the process back in the right direction. Our discussions in Sharm el-Sheikh and our discussions with the Israelis and with moderate Arab countries and again with the international community — I was in France and on the phone with a lot of international leaders — is now to try and maybe use the situation as an opportunity to focus people on the right direction, get people motivated back again. The problem is we have to understand clearly on two aspects: What is the Palestinian strategy to move forward, but equally, what is the Israeli strategy to move forward. Because at the end of the day, no matter what we're doing, part of the international community to move the peace process forward, if Israel has a different strategy than a two-state solution, then we will tend to shoot ourselves in the foot, so we need at least some clarity from where Israel wants to go and then we can build on that. Otherwise we're deluding ourselves if we're all moving thinking that the peace process and the road map is the way to go and then finding out that Israel maybe has different intentions. So I think we're in sort of homework stage at this point in time.

G&M: Later this year, Jordan will begin to [supply] Jericho with electricity for the first time. In the West Bank there are a lot of people [who] speak about a greater Jordanian role in this difficult time. Do you see that as a possibility?

King Abdullah II: We go out of our way to make sure that we shut that door before anybody even tries to open it. And as you would've noticed, at least on my watch over the past seven years, whenever things are not going well, parties like to throw this issue up and we have consistently in Jordan said that the issue of confederation or federation it is not even in our vocabulary, it is not even in our dictionary. And [what] we've been saying over the past seven days applies today as it did over the past seven years; because I think it is an excuse to throw the responsibility from other people's shoulders onto Jordan.

G&M: When you [warned] about the three flash points [Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories], are you disturbed to see it going the way you thought it would right now? And can it get worse?

King Abdullah II: Well you know let's hope that people wake up. I think what we're trying to see is … I have a sort of feeling that things are going in a certain direction. People were maybe surprised why in Washington several months ago I spoke about the Palestinian situation and nothing else because I see that as the core problem, I see that as the most difficult one and the one that creates so many uncertainties for the whole region. And I'm sort of throwing up warning flags. Jordan, on our own, can't bring stability to the region. We just need to have some sort of cohesive strategy because there are those out there too that do not believe the way that we do and are out there to try and sort of destroy our way of lives. So, there is a group of moderate Arab and Muslim countries and the international community, but we need both hands to clap. And again going to this core issue, I know the Palestinians have a lot on their plate, they need really to be able to focus, they have to sort of meet halfway but so do the Israelis at this stage. And I think that is the job that we have at this point; how can we get both groups to converge and transparently move forward.

G&M: You mentioned the speech you gave the Congress, a very powerful appeal to resolve that [Palestinian] conflict first. What is Canada's role now? Is Canada still relevant?

King Abdullah II: Canada is relevant because of the many levels that you play; it's not just the economic level but the political. You're internationally well known for your peace-keeping efforts in the region and Canada is part of the moderate nations that are trying to bring stability to this part of the world. Canada, although all the way in North America, has an international role. You as a country have always played an international role and therefore I would say you're considered an honest broker. And by being considered an honest broker I think you are always welcomed to any crisis set point, and the Middle East is not anything new to Canada so we do continue to hope that you will play an active role in that.

G&M: There are those who think that Canada has become less of an honest broker under the current Prime Minister Mr. Harper, since he is more pro-Israeli than previous leaders. Have you detected a shift?

King Abdullah II: You get different issues of being more pro, less pro. I can't speak on behalf of Canadians because I am not aware of these issues but I think that it all balances out in the end. I think that when we look at Canada, we look at Canada the nation and the history and the connection that you've had and the reputation you have built over the years and so I am sure that when I have an opportunity to meet the Prime Minister, he will agree as I think everybody will no matter what leanings you have, that we need to have a balanced solution to the problem. And we need a win-win; the difficulty is if we have one side determining the future of another. And I think that whoever you are understands that for successful negotiations, both sides have to walk away with something or both sides have to give up something. And I believe that the Prime Minister at the end of the day wants peace for the Israelis and the Palestinians and wants peace and stability for the Middle East.

G&M: Canada was very forthright a year ago, being one of the first countries to impose the boycott on the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. Did recent events suggest that the boycott was a failure? Does it suggest to you that isolating Hamas is not a way to go forward?

King Abdullah II: Well again it's difficult to say that circumstances on the ground happened because Canada did this or another country did that. Again this is a very complicated area and one of the problems we have with many of our friends in the West is being able to connect the dots, so that issues that are happening in the West Bank are connected to what's happening in Lebanon, to what's happening in Syria, to what's happening in Iraq, to obviously what's happening in the Persian gulf. So you've got to keep that in mind. There's greater forces playing here than the role of just one country or another. The challenge that we have now is how to get the Palestinian society to move forward to bond together and prepare for the next challenge. Otherwise, as I've been saying for quite a while, I don't think we will have a Palestinian state to talk about simply because geographically physically on the ground, what I'm saying is a sort of a cantonized Swiss cheese of the West Bank. And how can you effectively build a viable independent Palestinian state on that within the next year or two because I just see physically that that opportunity is slipping us by. If we don't have an independent viable Palestinian state therefore we don't have a two-state solution; we don't have a two-state solution, therefore we have no peace between Israelis and Palestinians; we have no peace between Israelis and Palestinians, how can we broker a peace between Israelis and Arabs and Muslims? So, do we resign ourselves to decades more violence which all of us will pay the price for? I mean, international extremism is affecting every country in the world. So, no longer is… it so far away to you in North America, are you not touched by what is going on in our part of world.

G&M: When you speak of "greater forces" at play, what are you referring to?

King Abdullah II: There is obviously the sort of coalition role inside of Iraq, there is the role of the modern countries, there's the role of Iran. Israel is obviously a regional superpower. So all these different folders I guess that make it maybe very complicated for someone who doesn't understand the Middle East. You can't sort of deal with one situation in isolation, so again many people… the major thing in the news is Iraq, but Iraq is not in isolation of what's happening in Syria or what's happening in Lebanon or what's happening in the Persian Gulf or let's say in Gaza. And I think that when… politicians deal with this part of the world, you've got to be able to connect the dots to understand.

G&M: There's this visit this week of your Foreign Minister as well as the Foreign Minister of Egypt. The Arab League flag will be flying in Jerusalem. How important is that? Are you actually seeing progress or is that just symbolic?

King Abdullah II: From our point of view, I don't like photo opportunities and what we're trying to do is build on the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting of several weeks ago to try and get the Israelis and the Palestinians moving forward. Ideally we would like to see larger meetings over the next several months, then get more of the international community together to give the umbrella to the Israelis and Palestinians to move forward. What we want is that trigger point of Israelis and Palestinians launching the process forward and so behind the scenes, that is the role of the international community and in particular to your question, Egypt and Jordan.

G&M: In terms of, you mentioned every country being affected by extremism; your own country sort of trapped between all these conflicts, how destabilizing is that for Jordan?

King Abdullah II: It's tough and it's a tough neighbourhood but it's always been a tough neighbourhood, so we've been kind of used that. But again I think that Jordan has the ability to show the other example. Obviously, when we look at our reform process where we would be today if it wasn't for the intifada [uprising], for 9/11, for the problems inside of Iraq, what's happening in Lebanon, we'd be much further along the line. So regional conflicts do play out on the prosperity of the area, I guess is what I'm trying to say. But having said that, we've weathered the storm and if you've looked on Jordan's history, we've always had interesting neighbours.

G&M: One of the issues that you seem you want to highlight while you're in Canada is the G-11. What's in it for the G-8 to sit down with the G-11?

King Abdullah II: Well, it depends…. Is the G-8 just a rich man's club and you don't have any responsibility to the rest of the world? I think that the G-8 has been extremely proactive in helping the most poor countries in the world and we're extremely supportive that the G-8 continues to do that. But what happens to countries such as ourselves, lower and middle-income countries. Once we graduated because we have taken those difficult steps for reform, because we are committed to improving ourselves, we actually get penalized. A lot of the support that you get for recovering your economies and your infrastructures … you find yourself in a lot worse position once you've made an effort to reform. What we're trying to do with the G-11 — and again the G-11 is not representative of the number of countries because at the end of the day this is a club unlike the G-8 where would all like to leave as quickly as possible — we want to come together and help each other out to graduate as quickly as possible. And so we find ourselves in a unique situation with similar challenges, so we've come together to try help each out but we want to be able to talk to the G-8 in one voice. The G-8 technically when it talks to the lowest income countries tends to come up with strategies and say to the third world: this is how we're going to help. The difference between the lower and middle-income countries is that we're developed enough to know what our problems are and to be able to go to the G-8 and say: look if you're really serious in improving our lot this is the way to help. And again, the philosophy is that when your neighbour is prosperous, you're prosperous. What goes around comes around in good stead. It's the G-8 improving the lot of the G-11 and we're actually represented from all around the world if you look at the members of the countries who are from just about every single continent. Then if you're helping us then we will help others and in good faith what goes around comes around I hope.

G&M: Many of the people I met with after the Hamas takeover of Gaza, referred to an Iranian hand in what happened in Gaza. Do you see that?

King Abdullah II: I don't know to what extent the Iranian hand is in Gaza and whether there are any operatives, that would probably surprise me. But to say that there is alliance — there is an alliance between Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran and they do have a relationship, so you would have to talk to Khaled Meshaal in Damascus and ask him whether he was taking his orders from Tehran or not.

G&M: You warned of three civil wars. Are we seeing those now? Or is there another step?

King Abdullah II: No. When I first said that I am concerned about three civil wars it was just to raise the alarm and not to say that we have three civil wars, but if we're not careful we will. And I think that again when you see what happened in Gaza that was a wake-up call for the Palestinians and for the Arabs in this region that things are getting serious and we have to focus. Lebanon is, you know, the jury is still out. The Siniora government is working very hard to bring stability into the country to move the process forward. But they have an uphill challenge and they need the support of the international community.

G&M: You are [interested] in a nuclear program. Is there a role Canada will play in that?

King Abdullah II: You know the funny thing is, three years ago we went to the States and said our national agenda, which is a reform program we've sort of outlined for ourselves in Jordan, had stipulated that we need to look for alternative forms of energy and one, serious one is nuclear energy because we don't have natural resources here. So we went to the West two-and-a-half, three years ago and said okay, now this is one of our priorities and nobody said: fantastic we will work with you. Only [when] I was interviewed in an Israeli newspaper and it was like this — the last question in a very complex interview about the peace process — that I said, yes we are interested in an energy program. The next day we know is headline news: Jordan talks nuclear power.

G&M: So, this is not about keeping up with Tehran at all?

King Abdullah II: I personally, having been in the army, I have my insecurities about nuclear energy; I know nuclear power plants are sort of smelly and dangerous and are risky. That's the way I was brought up. So I'm not a proponent of nuclear energy but I gathered that the technologies, especially out of Canada these days, that they are very efficient, very clean, very safe technologies out there. And if we are going to embark on nuclear energy program, then the only way we want to do it is to be the example of how to do right in the Middle East, but also to make sure that we have the most efficient, clean and transparent form of energy. And that is where I think Canada plays a role and we've had some very serious and ongoing discussions with the Canadians on this respect.

G&M: One last question about the Arab Peace Initiative. What do you think of the Israeli stipulation that [the Palestinians] meet certain terms before they sit down to talk. Is that a useful way to go forward?

King Abdullah II: I am hoping there's a good heart in this but I have been through this so many times where Palestinian leaders have been asked over the past seven years: do this and then we'll do that. And in my experience they're told to do this and when they do that, they're then asked to do a couple of more things and then a couple more things, until they become completely stripped down in front of their people, that they have no longer any influence. So I hope that if we put demands to the Palestinians that when they do meet them, which they have in the past, they're actually then rewarded for those difficult decisions they had taken.

G&M: I meant specifically, [the Israeli demand] that they give up the right of return before negotiations begin?

King Abdullah II: You have to sit down at the peace table to discuss these issues. Otherwise, why are they in negotiations if you've stipulated your demands beforehand? And I think that the role we all need to play is to get the Israelis and Palestinians to sit around the table and discuss these issues. And I think if you look at the Arab peace proposal and other initiatives, all of them say basically, we just at the end of the day want the two sides to sit down together and negotiate these issues out. Nothing is impossible.