Jordan Times
Sunday, March 28, 2004

Bush to meet King, Mubarak and Sharon

In what the White House called consultations "with key Middle East leaders," Sharon will visit Washington on April 14, two days after Bush hosts Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak at his Texas ranch. King Abdullah will hold talks at the White House on April 21.

The announcement came only four days after Israel was widely condemned for the assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Even the United States said it was "deeply troubled" by the killing, which cast a dark new shadow over the Middle East peace process.

Without mentioning the Yassin killing, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement that Bush and Sharon would "discuss developments in the Middle East and key bilateral issues.

"The president looks forward to reviewing bilateral issues and the situation in the region with Prime Minister Sharon, including the war on terror and the search for Israeli-Palestinian peace."

The United States vetoed an Arab-sponsored UN Security Council resolution condemning the killing of Yassin, in an Israeli helicopter missile attack on Monday. The assassination has inflamed tensions in the Middle East.

But the Israeli media said Friday that Sharon's top aide, Dov Weisglass, had left Washington empty-handed after three days of talks aimed at getting US support for Sharon's plan to disengage from most of the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Israeli newspapers said Sharon offered to dismantle an additional six isolated settlements in the West Bank as a bargaining chip to get US formal backing for Israel's maintenance of settlements in the West Bank where most of the 230,000 Israeli settlers live.

The death of the Hamas leader is likely to dominate talks with the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders.

McClellan said Bush's agenda with Mubarak would include "our common efforts to combat terrorism in the region and the world, our shared goal to see the spread of freedom and prosperity throughout the Middle East region, and our efforts to achieve a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians."

Egypt called off official celebrations with Israel to mark the 25th anniversary of the landmark peace deal between the two neighbours.

Mubarak called the killing "cowardly aggression."

King Abdullah said the assassination of Yassin was a "crime" that "will lead to more escalation, violence and instability."

But the White House said that on top of "the global campaign against terrorism" and "the search for peace in the Middle East," Iraq would also figure highly in talks between Bush and King Abdullah.

King Abdullah expressed concern this month over events in Iraq and progress in Israeli-Palestinian talks and said he would raise his worries in Washington.

In a rare interview with Al Rai newspaper published on March 10, King Abdullah announced that he would go to Washington in April.

"The visit will be very timely because I am not satisfied at all with the security situation in Iraq," the King said.

"I will be speaking very frankly with the American president on what the Americans can do to ease the hardships of the Iraqi people and what we can do to help." The White House said Bush and the King would also discuss "Jordan's economic development."

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