By JAMAL HALABY
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 3, 2006; 4:12 PM
AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordan's king warned the United States and Israel Thursday that the fighting in Lebanon has weakened moderates across the Mideast.
Even if Hezbollah is destroyed, the hostility toward Israel is so high that another such group could pop up in Syria, Egypt, Iraq _ or even his own country, King Abdullah II was quoted as saying in published reports.
"The Arab people see Hezbollah as a hero because it's fighting Israel's aggression," he said. "This is a fact that the U.S. and Israel must realize: As long as there is aggression, there's resistance and there's popular support for this resistance."
The three-week-old conflict has sharply raised tensions across the Mideast, and leaders like Abdullah, a key U.S. ally who initially blamed Hezbollah for sparking the conflict by capturing two Israeli soldiers, have become increasingly critical of the United States and Israel.
Abdullah and other Arab moderates, such as the Egyptian and Saudi leaders, have warned recently that the fighting was hurting any hope for reviving Mideast peacemaking.
In a joint interview with the Al Rai and Al Ghad dailies, Abdullah said Israel's "aggression has exceeded all limits and must stop immediately."
He warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories have created "despair in the whole region" and "weakened the voice of moderation."
In the Egyptian capital of Cairo, meanwhile, about 50 women protested near the U.S. Embassy on Thursday, urging an immediate cease-fire, while outside the Lebanese Embassy in Amman, about 150 people held a candlelight vigil to remember those killed.
The head of Egypt's main opposition group, the banned Muslim Brotherhood, said his group was prepared to send 10,000 "holy warriors" to help Hezbollah.
"If the government permits, there are 10,000 mujahadeen ready," Mohammed Mahdi Akef told the weekly edition of independent newspaper Nahdat Masr.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said Egypt will not be dragged into the conflict militarily. Mubarak warned earlier this week that the peace process could collapse because of Israel's offensive in Lebanon.
He also sent a letter Wednesday to President Bush urging him to step up international efforts "to achieve an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire," according to the Middle East News Agency.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said after meeting with Syria's president in Damascus that Syria indicated it could be willing to help negotiate with Hezbollah.
Syria, which shares a border with Lebanon, is one of Hezbollah's primary benefactors, along with Iran.
"They (the Syrians) are going to exercise all their influence on Hezbollah, but the circumstances and political and military context of Lebanon must change," Moratinos told reporters.
But in Malaysia, Iran's hard-line president told an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders that the solution to the Mideast crisis was to destroy Israel.
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the Organization of Islamic Conference _ the Islamic world's largest grouping of countries.
The gathering demanded an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and urged the United Nations to investigate what it called flagrant human rights violations by Israel.
Abdullah said he has been in touch with the Bush administration to explain the dangers of the Israeli military operation in Lebanon.
"Unfortunately, what we initially sensed from those contacts was not encouraging," he said. "What they wanted was a package of solutions that guarantee Israel's security and push back Hezbollah off the Israeli borders."
Later Thursday, Abdullah urged a "unified Arab position" on the conflict. He did not elaborate, but made his remarks during a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, who is on a regional tour that will also take him to Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
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Associated Press writers Shafika Mattar in Amman, Albert Aji in Damascus and Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.