Jordan Times
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
King urges US support
for Arab Peace Initiative
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah on Monday urged the US administration to help advance
Middle East peace by supporting the Arab Peace Initiative, a Royal Court
statement said.
King Abdullah told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a Washington meeting
that the US should seize growing international interest in Mideast peacemaking
to revive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and broker a final settlement that
would meet the needs of both sides.
The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative offered Israel normal ties and security
guarantees in return for establishing a viable Palestinian state, withdrawal
from territories occupied in 1967 and an agreed settlement to the refugee issue.
On Sunday, Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa said Arabs will relaunch the
land-for-peace offer to end the decades long conflict with Israel at this
month’s Arab summit in Saudi Arabia without changes Israel was pushing. Israel
said it would not accept the peace plan as is and asked to drop any reference to
the right of the Palestinians displaced in the 1948 Mideast war to return to
their homes inside the Jewish state.
The King warned yesterday that Israeli activities in and around Jerusalem,
particularly near Islamic holy sites, threatened to undermine international and
Arab peacemaking efforts, according to the statement.
King Abdullah, meanwhile, said Iraq’s upcoming security conference “is an
important development”. He said the crisis in Iraq affects its neighbours, and
that Arab states were keen to contribute to the conflict-hit country’s security
and stability.
The Iraq conference, slated to start Saturday, is meant mostly to be a meeting
of the war-torn country’s neighbours to discuss calming the conflict there. But
Baghdad also has invited the five permanent UN Security Council members — the
US, France, Britain, Russia and China.
King Abdullah is on a five-day working visit to the US to advance Arab diplomacy
for Middle East peace. He will also meet with US President George W. Bush, as
well as key elected representatives. On Wednesday, he will address a joint
meeting of the Congress.
During his meeting, which followed talks with Vice President Dick Cheney and
Defence Secretary Robert Gates, the King said Jordan was counting on US support
to “institutionalise a relationship between the G-8 and the G-11”, a group of
lower-middle income countries that are working together to solve similar
development challenges.