Jordan's queen condemns Israeli military operation

Jordan's Queen Raina believes Palestinians and Israelis have at least one thing in common -- a sense of helplessness.

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Jordan's Queen Rania on Tuesday condemned Israel's military operation in the West Bank, saying the "solution is not to use aggression" but diplomacy.

"Sharon is after some suspects he believes are terrorists, but in the process he's terrorizing the lives of many, many people," she said on CNN's "Larry King Live" in a taped interview.

"If we look at the situation in Palestine, these are people living under occupation. They have been deprived of their rights, of their freedom, of their land. So therefore, the solution is not to use aggression, but rather to go to the political process to open the door for political negotiations. I think that is the way to go."

The queen believes Israel should heed President Bush's call to withdraw from the West Bank, and that United Nations aid workers should be allowed into the war-torn areas to help people.

"What we're seeing here is that many Palestinian people have no access to even their basic rights," she said. "They have no access to medical attention. Medicines are not reaching them."

Concerned about conditions in the West Bank, Queen Rania recently led a march for Palestinian rights which she said was "an appeal to the international community to try to get Israel to apply the international humanitarian laws and human rights laws." The queen, herself, is Palestinian, as is about half of Jordan's population.

As for finding peace in the region, Queen Rania said she wants the involvement of the international community, but she specifically urged the United States to become a fully involved third party in the peace process because Washington has leverage with Israel.

She also said some sort of international force is needed to lessen the violence. "Maybe we don't need peacekeepers, but we do need peace enforcers in the region. There's been a blame game going on for far too long and it is time that it stop, and it's time that we have some peace in the area," the queen said.

Asked about Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's popularity among the Palestinian people, Queen Rania said Arafat is "very, very popular" right now. And even though the Israelis say he's "irrelevant," she said, he is relevant "simply because his people say he is."

However, Jordan's queen believes Palestinians and Israelis have at least one thing in common -- a sense of helplessness.

"On the Palestinian side, the people feel they have no control over their lives, they have nothing to look forward to ... On the Israeli side, they feel helpless against these human bombs they can't control. They don't know when they're going to blow up," she said.