This news comes on the heels of a visit to Washington by King Abdullah of Jordan to press the point with U.S. President Barack Obama that time is quickly running out to reach a viable solution to the longstanding Middle East problem. A Jordanian official said that while the Jordanian king was pleased by what he has seen of the new U.S. administration, a lot of people were losing faith in the peace process.

"We are very, very encouraged by the early signs from the administration to solve the Palestinian issue," the Jordanian official said. Several Arab diplomats believe that unless the United States plays a leading role in the Middle East, there will be no progress. Indeed, there are fears among some officials in the Middle East that this stagnation could lead to a new war in the region unless there is a breakthrough in the deadlocked process.

The Jordanians are trying to convince the Americans that the situation in the region is at a critical point and that the only way forward in the peace process is if the United States puts all its weight and prestige behind the process.

While this may well be the case, there is not going to be any headway in the Middle East, no matter how great the pressure from the White House, unless the protagonists show some flexibility. That does not seem to be the case at the moment.

The Israelis must be willing to evict a certain number of settlers from outposts in the West Bank and facilitate daily activities for the Palestinians by easing some of the roadblocks that hamper travel by Palestinians throughout the West Bank.

The only way any of this is likely to come about is if the United States decides to apply pressure on Israel to get the government of Binyamin Netanyahu to agree to move forward in negotiations with the Palestinians.

Obama may be serious in promoting the peace talks, but he will not want to upset the Jewish vote if he is thinking about re-election in 2012, which undoubtedly he is.

Then again, the onus is also on the Palestinians to get their act together and unite around the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas.

A division within the Palestinian leadership between Hamas and Fatah only hurts the Palestinians in the long run.

The new directive issued by al-Qaida, asking its members to begin planning raids on Israel from Jordan, emphasizes Jordan's preoccupation and strong desire to have the peace initiative revived.

It also places the Hashemite Kingdom in an unenviable situation -- one that Jordan knows only too well, having already experienced a similar situation in the late 1960s when the Palestine Liberation Organization and its offshoots based themselves in Jordan. The PLO and other Palestinian organizations conducted raids into Israel that brought retaliation from the Jewish state against the Jordanians.

The situation eventually led to serious deterioration between the government and the Palestinian resistance and in September 1970 degenerated into a full-scale civil war and the expulsion of the resistance from Jordan. Jordan has since learned the lesson of Black September and will not likely allow the repetition of those dreadful events of 1970.

In addition to the threats from the Islamists, Jordan also worries over Iran's role in the Arab world. Some Arab officials say Iran is positioning itself as the champion of Islamic and Arab causes -- a move most Arab countries look at with great mistrust.

The challenge to the administration and to the moderate Arab states, such as Jordan, is to convince both the Israelis and the Palestinians of Hamas that time is indeed running out.

And as long as Hamas and the Iranians continue to pursue their current policies, chances of anything really working in the Middle East are slim.

It is now a race against the clock with the trends in the Middle East slowly changing -- and not for the better. Jordan's king, one of the most moderate leaders in the Arab world, clearly understands that and will take that message to President Obama. He will help convey to the American president the urgency of finally pushing and prodding the principal players in the conflict toward a final settlement.

Trends are changing, but they are changing into threats.

As one Arab official told this correspondent last week, "People have started to lose faith in the peace process." And that is a very dangerous development.

(Claude Salhani is editor of the Middle East Times.)

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