"American politics aside, the president is committed to the peace process," said King Abdullah. "Unfortunately the United States is still somewhat naive or lacks the cultural sensitivity they would need to have, not only in our part of the world."

"There is a perception in the Middle East that America is biased (against Arabs and Palestinians)," he told a seminar on the second day of a three-day official visit to Sweden.

Jordan, one of the most U.S.-friendly Arab countries, is sandwiched between Iraq and Israel, making it next-door neighbor to two of the world's worst armed conflicts.

King Abdullah said Jordan was working "behind the scenes" to resolve the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians but that efforts toward peace were hampered because "there are extremists that clearly spoil the day, on both sides."

The spiral of violence meant Israeli and Palestinian leaders were "spending too much time pointing fingers at each other" instead of working to promote their jointly agreed peace process by implementing the road map, he said.