King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan arrived Monday in the Netherlands for a three-day state visit aimed at bolstering trade between the two nations. After being met at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport by Dutch Queen Beatrix, the Jordanian royals were heading to The Hague, for a formal greeting including a guard of honor at the queen's Noordeinde Palace, after which Abdullah was to deliver a speech to parliament on «challenges and hope» in the Middle East. In an interview with the weekend edition of respected Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, the king called the stalled peace process a lose-lose situation. If it is not resolved, «Israel would lose the chance of making peace with Arabs, and the Palestinians would lose their chance to establish their state,» he said. Before Abdullah's speech, Jordanian and Dutch officials were to sign a tax treaty aimed at bolstering trade and investment between the two countries. On Tuesday, Abdullah and Rania were to visit Amsterdam and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. They were to visit Flevoland province east of Amsterdam on Wednesday where they planned to see a replica of the Dutch East India company ship «Batavia» and a factory that makes Spyker sports cars.
