Jordan Times
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Jordan bids to repackage Arab
offer to Israel
CAIRO (Reuters) Jordan has launched a diplomatic initiative to repackage a
three-year-old Arab peace offer to Israel when Arab leaders meet in Algiers this
month, officials and diplomats said on Wednesday.
We are still working on it... We are using the time from now to the summit to
work on something, Foreign Minister Hani Mulki told Reuters by telephone.
His Majesty King Abdullah, in an interview with Israeli television this week,
said the original initiative, agreed at an Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, still
stood. But he added: It needs to be rearticulated.
The initiative offered Israel full recognition and normal relations with all
Arab states in return for withdrawal to the borders that stood before the war of
1967. King Abdullah said he was surprised that the Arab offer did not have much
impact on Israeli society.
So maybe we have to explain more what the offer was from all the Arab countries
towards Israel. And we hope that in Algeria... you will get Beirut-plus, he
added.
Arab diplomats in Cairo said they had not seen any specific proposals from the
Jordanian side on amendments to the wording of the initiative, which the Israeli
government rejected.
Mulki said: It's still in the preparation stage ... Once we are ready, we will
be able to talk more about it.
The Arab leaders will meet in Algiers on March 22 and 23.
It's difficult to know what the Jordanians are thinking of, said one diplomat.
It's all talk at this stage. But there is still plenty of time before the
summit.
The idea did not come up in Cairo last week at an Arab foreign ministers'
meeting called to prepare for the Algiers summit, the diplomats said.