“We want to be, I think, an example for the rest of the Arab world, because there are a lot of people who say that the only democracy you can have in the Middle East is the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Fifty-seven countries in the world, a third of the United Nations, do not recognize Israel. In a way, I think North Korea has better international relations than Israel.

I’ve benefited from the best of both societies and both cultures, East and West.

Together, we can create a world in which peace is real; in which every human being can thrive; in which all share the promise of our century. I believe we can succeed.

I’m just very wary that once you start military operations in any country, it’s very difficult to predict what the outcome is.

No matter what’s happening in the Middle East – the Arab Spring, et cetera, the economic challenges, high rates of unemployment – the emotional, critical issue is always the Israeli-Palestinian one.

All this needs to stop. And we pledge that Jordan will do its utmost to help achieve it.

Jerusalem is a time bomb that I fear is just waiting to go off.

Whenever you have a crisis, you’re always going to have the extremists taking advantage of the situation.

For me, I am left leaning when it comes to health and education, on the right when it comes to defense. So I don’t know where I come on the political spectrum. And I think this the challenge that a lot of Jordanians have to deal with.

The global system they hope to create is one of new walls and new isolation, and radically smaller horizons. It is an anti-democratic, anti-economic-growth, and anti-progress agenda.

I like to look at the glass half full.

That frustration does translate into the political sphere when people are hungry and without jobs.

I believe nuclear energy in Jordan will be done in such a way where it is a public-private partnership so everyone can see exactly what’s going on.

If you have a government that is elected, they need to do the hard work – because if they don’t, they won’t be around the next time the ballot box is open.

And no matter what’s happening in the Middle East – the Arab Spring, et cetera, the economic challenges, high rates of unemployment – the emotional, critical issue is always the Israeli-Palestinian one.

Today more than ever we need creative minds to address the issues of the age. And one of the most urgent is this: How can humanity know so much, achieve so much, and still fail so many people so badly?