Jordan Times
Thursday, March 1, 2007
King warns time running out to
make peace progress
LONDON (Agencies) — King Abdullah on Wednesday called on the international
community to intensify efforts “at this stage” to revive the Middle East peace
process.
The King told British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a meeting here that world
powers should help Palestinians and Israelis overcome obstacles hindering the
resumption of peace negotiations.
Blair briefed King Abdullah on Wednesday about prospects for an
Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
The two leaders discussed possible joint efforts to relaunch the peace process
in line with a two-state solution.
The Monarch urged Britain to support the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which
offered Israel normal ties in return for the Jewish state’s withdrawal from
territories seized in the 1967 war.
Warning that time was running out to make progress, the King said Israeli
military escalation and assassinations in the West Bank were “flagrant
violation”.
Israel on Wednesday clamped down on Nablus, confining tens of thousands of
people to their homes, assassinated three activists, including the chief
spokesman for Islamic Jihad group.
Talks between King Abdullah and Blair also focused on means to alleviate the
harsh economic and living conditions of the Palestinians.
The Quartet — Russia, the European Union, the United States and the United
Nations — is awaiting the formation of the new government before deciding
whether to lift sanctions imposed after Hamas won elections in January 2006 and
took control of the Palestinian Authority.
In Amman, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he expects a new
unity government to be formed next month as scheduled, after talks with
Jordanian and European officials.
“We are working on forming a [unity] government and this will happen before the
five-week deadline,” Abbas said after talks with Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit.
Abbas’ Fateh Party and the Islamist movement Hamas signed a power-sharing
agreement to set up a Palestinian unity government in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on
February 8, with the aim of ending a crippling Western aid boycott.
“There is a lot of work to be done until then in order to present to the world
the government in the best way,” Abbas said.
Since being asked to form a new government on February 15, prime
minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas has five weeks under Palestinian law
to put together and win parliamentary approval for a Cabinet.
Abbas briefed Bakhit on his recent European tour during which he said “the
Europeans expressed support for the Palestinian unity government,” the Jordan
News Agency, Petra, reported.
Abbas also met in Amman with EU External Relations Commissioner Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, who reiterated calls on the incoming government to meet
international conditions to win Western cooperation.
“We have never abandoned the Palestinian people,” Ferrero-Waldner told
reporters.
“We talked with the president about the Mecca agreement and we said it was an
important step forward because this has helped to bring calm to a very difficult
situation that might have really gone to a civil war,” she said.
“We want this government to respond to the principles of the Quartet. We have to
wait a little bit to really give a judgement [on the incoming government],” she
added.
The King and Blair also discussed talks on the future of Iraq expected in March,
Blair’s office said.
Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abawi told the Associated Press on Wednesday
that the US, Britain, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran had said they planned to
attend. Syria has said it also intends to join the talks.
Also yesterday, King Abdullah met with British treasury chief, Gordon Brown, for
talks on bilateral ties, particularly economic cooperation.
In another development, King Abdullah and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora
discussed over the telephone latest developments in Lebanon.