Jordan Times
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Jordan, Germany urge Mideast
peace push
BERLIN (Agencies) — Jordan and EU President Germany called Saturday on the
international community to work together to revive the stalled peace process
between Israelis and Palestinians.
King Abdullah and German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after a
two-hour meeting that peace negotiations can help establish an independent
Palestinian state that lives side-by-side with Israel, the Jordan News Agency,
Petra, reported.
The King said he supported all peace efforts, including an international
conference to discuss crises in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon.
“Such a conference should have clear agenda and timetable as well as tangible
result. It should not be just a photo opportunity,” the King told reporters.
“The chancellor and I are both very concerned about external interference on
Lebanese sovereignty and call upon others to respect Lebanese democratic
processes and institutions,” Reuters quoted the King as saying.
On Friday, King Abdullah called on delegates at the World Economic Forum (WEF)
in Davos to use their insights, tools and strategies to articulate a new vision
for the Middle East.
“It is a vision of ordinary life where people can go to shop or work without
fear… where ambulances don’t face checkpoints to get the sick to hospitals,
where young people are able to build families and plan long careers, where the
first-grade students of 2017, Israeli and Palestinian, can look back as adults,
and have no memory of the conflict years,” the King told the forum in a special
address (see the address’ full text).
The King said renewed international attention and willpower to end the
Arab-Israeli conflict presented a rare opportunity for peacemaking that should
not be missed.
He called on Israel at a meeting with Foreign Minister Tzippi Livni to accept
the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which gave the Jewish state full recognition and
normal relations with all Arab states in return for withdrawal from occupied
territories seized in the 1967 war. Speaking a week before the start of her tour
of Middle East countries, Merkel said she saw “a window of opportunity to
resolve the political problems between Israel and the Palestinian territories,
or at least to make a step forward”, according to Agence France-Presse.
“I will travel with the impression that we must use this window of opportunity
because otherwise there will be great threats” to the region. Merkel, whose
country presides the EU until the end of June, will meet leaders of Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait during her visit.
She again underlined her backing for the international Quartet group, consisting
of the EU, Russia, the UN and the US.
The group will meet in Washington Friday to revive efforts aimed at resolving
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The King said at the WEF that “the international community, especially the
Quartet, have an historic role and responsibility to stand behind peace”.
During a question and answer session at the WEF with US journalist Charlie Rose,
the King warned that Washington’s credibility was on the line in the Middle East
for failing to tackle major crises in the region.
“If America again moves the peace process forward only half-heartedly, I don’t
think America will ever be trusted again in the region,” he said. “What that
bodes for the future of the Middle East is not very bright.”
The King and Queen Rania returned from Davos last night.