Jordan Times
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Jordan urges prompt
final status negotiations
By Khalid Neimat with agency dispatches
AMMAN — King Abdullah on Monday said Palestinians and Israelis should promptly
begin final status negotiations and warned against “wasting more opportunities”.
“Time will be critical at the coming stage,” the King told Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, who briefed the Monarch on the Mecca agreement between Fateh and
Hamas on forming a unity government.
“Palestinians and Israelis should support all Arab and international efforts to
revive the peace process in line with the two-state solution," the Jordan News
Agency, Petra, quoted the King as saying.
King Abdullah said he supported the formation of a government that would
“achieve the aspirations of Palestinian people and ease their hardship”.
He urged a “unified Palestinian position to resume negotiations until an
independent Palestinian state is established”.
Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh said the King-Abbas talks were “important”,
particularly ahead of a meeting between the Palestinian leader, US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Judeh said Jordan hoped the Mecca agreement "would be a step to bring the
Palestinian people closer to achieving their aims of a national unity
government, an end to Palestinian infighting and a revival of the direct
negotiations leading to a permanent peaceful settlement resulting in a
sovereign, independent Palestinian state”.
Appeals for end to sanctions
In Gaza, meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh appealed to the
United States and other Middle East mediators to restore economic aid to the
Palestinian Authority in response to the Hamas-Fateh unity deal.
"The American administration should reconsider its hasty position, which refuses
to deal with the will of the Palestinian people," Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said
in a speech.
"I say to the Quartet and to the European Union that this is the will of the
Palestinian people, and they should respect it and they should work to end the
status of siege," he said.
The Quartet of Middle East mediators — the United States, the European Union,
Russia and the United Nations — cut off direct funding of the Palestinian
Authority after Hamas came to power last year.
Hamas, an Islamist movement, has rejected the Quartet's conditions for restoring
aid: Recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence and acceptance of existing
interim peace agreements.
The unity agreement Hamas signed with the long-dominant Fateh faction in Saudi
Arabia last Thursday made no explicit commitment to recognise the Jewish state.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli officials said that Israel was considering suspending
contacts with Abbas if the unity government did not meet the international
demands.
The move could increase pressure on Abbas but hinder US efforts to revive
long-stalled peace talks. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans a
three-way summit with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem
on February 19.
A letter from Abbas of reappointing Haniyeh as prime minister contained a vague
call to the movement to "abide by the interests of the Palestinian people" and
"respect" past agreements and international law.
Weeks of fighting
Haniyeh said the unity agreement reflected a desire by Hamas and Fateh to end
factional warfare that killed more than 90 Palestinians between late December
and early February. A policemen died on Monday of wounds he had sustained in the
clashes, hospital officials said.
Haniyeh said Hamas would hold nine cabinet posts, with six going to Fateh. An
independent candidate would become interior minister, a position that oversees
security services. He said he planned to hold more talks with Abbas to finalise
the details.
Saudi Arabia's cabinet on Monday called for world support for the Mecca
agreement, saying positive world reaction "would be a strong impetus towards
alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people and help push the peace
process forward".
Olmert told Israeli lawmakers he needed to assess where Abbas stood following
his power-sharing deal with Hamas.
"Now they are one and they are one government," Olmert said, according to a
parliamentary spokesman. "If [the new government] insists on the same stance,
Abu Mazen (Abbas) would be moving from the positions that he had earlier."
Israeli officials said a suspension of contacts may only be temporary and that a
final decision will not be made until the unity government is in place, a
process that could take a month or longer.
Israel's response also depended on whether Abbas and the new government secured
the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. "Gilad Shalit can serve as
a test," Olmert said.