Jordan Times
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
King urges US to back
peace drive, warns of heightened tension
Monarch holds talks with Abbas, telephones Olmert
JT with agency dispatches
KING ABDULLAH WARNED Tuesday of heightened regional tensions in the absence of
sustained engagement by the international community in reviving the Middle East
peace process, saying the lapse of time was not in the interest of anyone.
The King told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a meeting in Amman that
the longer the time passes without helping Palestinians and Israelis move
forward, the greater the risk of an escalation of tensions, according to a Royal
Court statement.
Rice arrived in Jordan early Tuesday to brief the King on her meetings with
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
She also held security talks yesterday with intelligence chiefs of the so-called
Arab Quartet of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to influence Hamas to
soften its anti-Israeli policies, news reports quoted Arab and US diplomats as
saying.
The meeting included Saudi national security adviser Prince Bandar Ben Sultan
and Egyptian intelligence head Omar Suleiman, who is known for his deep ties
across Palestinian politics, including Hamas. Rice has been meeting with
Suleiman regularly since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections 13 months
ago. They last met in Washington weeks ago.
Agence France-Presse quoted a US official as describing the Arab Quartet,
initially set up to reach out to Sunnis in Iraq, as an “instrument for
supporting responsible Palestinians”.
Rice on Monday called for greater Arab involvement in the peace process saying:
“I hope the Arab states also understand that they have a role to play in this.
This isn’t just what the United States can talk about with the Israelis and
Palestinians.”
“Everyone has obligations. That’s what I’m going to be talking about. What can
you do to make this happen,” she added.
The secretary of state’s visit to Amman — part of a regional tour — is seen as
that made to garner Arab support for US’ recent efforts to revive the peace
process.
The Royal Court statement said the King expressed hope Washington would step up
its involvement in the peace process to jump-start negotiations and overcome
obstacles to achieve a settlement based on a two-state solution.
“The people of the region are looking towards Washington continuing to play a
major role in the peace process by creating the necessary environment for a
resumption of negotiations on the basis of the two-state solution outlined in
the Arab Peace Initiative and the Middle East roadmap,” the King told Rice.
The Arab initiative, launched in 2002, offered Arab diplomatic recognition for
Israel in return for the Jewish state’s withdrawal from land it occupied in the
1967 war.
The King also met separately on Tuesday with Abbas, who described the Monday
summit with Rice and Olmert as “difficult and tense, but not a failure”, saying
similar meetings would follow.
“We explored the future horizons to implement the two-state vision of US
President George W. Bush,” Abbas said. He expected to meet with Olmert again
soon, but did not set a date.
The Palestinian leader also told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that Israel
“misunderstood” the agreement reached in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, between his Fateh
faction and Hamas on February 8.
“We told Israel that this agreement was made to protect the unity of the
Palestinian people and its national interests… the agreement is an expression of
support for Palestinian interests, but Israel may have misunderstood it,” he
added.
Israel on Tuesday ruled out holding talks with Abbas once he forms a coalition
with Hamas, saying the new unity government must give in to international
demands to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
“The agreements between Hamas and Abu Mazen disappoint all who supported
separating the extremists from the moderates and creating an alternative
government in the Palestinian Authority,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
said Tuesday, referring to Abbas by his nickname.
Miri Eisin, Olmert’s spokeswoman, ruled out holding any talks on a final peace
deal with Abbas if he formed a new Cabinet that included Hamas.
“We’re not talking about negotiations on final status issues,” Eisin said.
Abbas, Rice and Olmert held a two-hour summit in Jerusalem on Monday. The summit
was expected to tackle main issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the right of
refugees and the outlines of a Palestinian state. The summit was also seen as a
way to strengthen Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas, but the focus was
shifted on how to deal with the new Palestinian coalition.
The talks ended with no new agreements.
In statements to the press following the talks, Rice announced that all sides
reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution but warned that peace would
not come through “terror” — in a clear reference to Hamas. The US, leading the
Western community, sought to isolate Hamas.
Hamas said on Tuesday it still hoped the US would soften its position towards a
Palestinian unity government despite Israeli statements that Washington and Tel
Aviv would shun it until it meets several conditions.
Abbas, however, spoke of his “total conviction” that the power-sharing agreement
with Hamas was in the interest of the Palestinian people.
Abbas was on his way Tuesday to Germany, Britain and France where he is expected
to seek European support for the plan to form a new Palestinian government. The
Palestinian leader believes the new Cabinet will take a moderate position and
should ultimately lead to the lifting of the West’s financial embargo on the
Palestinian Authority, which was imposed after Hamas took power.
The sanctions have blocked the transfer of $1 billion in aid.
After his talks with Abbas, the King pledged to “intensify Jordan’s diplomatic
efforts in the coming period to win international backing for ending the
[economic] siege and to strengthen the position of Palestinian negotiators in
the peace process”.
The Quartet of peace mediators of the US, EU, Russia and the UN was set to meet
in Berlin today to discuss the Rice-Abbas-Olmert meeting and how to deal with a
new Palestinian coalition.
The Quartet demanded that Hamas recognise Israel, renounce violence and agree to
past deals as a condition to lift the embargo.
The recent Mecca deal, which calmed weeks of Hamas-Fateh fighting that killed
over 100 people, contained a vague promise to “respect” previous
Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Also yesterday, the King telephoned Olmert and called for “reactivating the
peace process with the Palestinians and overcome all obstacles that hinder the
resumption of negotiations”.
He also stressed the need for Israel to halt its digging operations beside the
Aqsa Mosque, describing the action as a dangerous threat to Muslim holy sites
and an escalation of tensions in the region.
The King expressed similar concerns during his meeting with Rice, saying the
international community “is obliged to prevent Israel from violating the
sanctity of the mosque”.
Israel started excavations earlier this month near Al Aqsa Mosque under claims
to salvage artifacts before construction of a pedestrian bridge leading up to a
religious compound sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
But the work angered Arabs and Muslims for fear the dig is meant to wreck the
foundations of the 1,300-year-old mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, captured by
Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
The Palestinian parliament urged Arab states on Tuesday to cut ties with Israel
in protest at excavation work near Islam’s third holiest site.
The Palestinian Legislative Council, controlled by Hamas, also called on the UN
Security Council to pressure Israel to safeguard Islamic and Christian sites in
Jerusalem.
The council said Arab states should “sever diplomatic and economic ties [with
Israel] and not establish new ones” in response to the excavation near the Aqsa
Mosque.