Jordan Times
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Jordan, Egypt push for
peace
Abbas in Amman to brief King on EU tour
By Khaled Nuaimat
AQABA — Jordan and Egypt on Saturday said they
wanted to cooperate with the incoming Israeli government to help resume peace
negotiations with the Palestinians.
Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib told reporters after talks here between King
Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that both countries will rally
international support for resuming the peace process and preempt Israeli
unilateral moves.
Israeli Prime Minister- designate Ehud Olmert said he sought to set the Jewish
state's borders unilaterally if no basis can be found for negotiations with the
Palestinians. Khatib agreed with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit that
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas should negotiate a final peace settlement
with Israel.
Abbas arrived in Jordan yesterday on a two-day visit, during which he will meet
with King Abdullah to brief him on his EU tour.
The two ministers said Amman and Cairo would lobby for a meeting of the Middle
East Quartet in New York on May 9. The Quartet comprises the UN, the EU, the US
and Russia. Jordan and Egypt are to attend as regional partners from the Middle
East.
"We believe the coming meeting of the Quartet to be very important and timely
and coming after a long suspension of the peace process which faces a difficult
period," Khatib said. "There ought to be international efforts to push forward
the peace process away from unilateral steps and a return to the negotiating
table."
Both sides also called for resuming aid to the Palestinians, who, they said,
should preserve their national unity.
International donors, led by the US, halted direct aid because Hamas refuses to
recognise Israel.
The Associated Press reported that Khatib and Abul Gheit said King Abdullah and
Mubarak planned to hold separate meetings with Olmert to push for the roadmap,
which envisions the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
During their talks, King Abdullah and Mubarak stressed the importance of
intensifying world efforts to revive the peace process and deliver aid to the
Palestinians, who are suffering an economic crisis, the Jordan News Agency,
Petra, reported. The two leaders also discussed Iraq as well as means to enhance
relations between Jordan and Egypt. The meeting was attended by Director of the
General Intelligence Department Major General Mohammad Dahabi and his Egyptian
counterpart Omar Suleiman. The Egyptian foreign minister, meanwhile, called for
an international conference to discuss “counter terrorist operations.”
He said Egypt — battered by terror attacks earlier this week — had sent letters
to the US and EU governments urging them to reconsider an Egyptian proposal for
a UN meeting that would discuss how to “uproot terrorism in the region and in
the world.”