Jordan Times
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
King urges US to act on
peace
JT with agency dispatches
JORDAN URGED WASHINGTON on Monday to help revive
the stalled Middle East peace process as US Vice President Dick Cheney wrapped
up a tour of Arab allies to drum up support for Iraq.
Cheney headed home from Aqaba after talks with King Abdullah, the final leg of a
six-day tour of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
“We know there’s a lot of challenges there,” the King was quoted by Agence
France-Presse as saying about the peace process, asking Cheney to help move it
out of its “stagnation”. “We must give hope a chance,” he said during the
one-hour meeting.
Asked whether settling the Middle East peace process was key to solving Iraq and
Iran, Cheney told Fox News television: “I think we have to address all of the
problems, and we don’t have the luxury of ignoring any of them.”
A Royal Court statement said the King told Cheney that the Arab Peace Initiative
endorsed in March represents “an opportunity to advance peace and end the
Arab-Israeli conflict”.
“Time is not on anyone’s side,” said the King, calling for a “time frame to
establish tangible results on the ground”.
A Royal Court official told AFP the meeting with Cheney focused essentially on
the situation in Iraq and reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“It centred on ways of supporting regional countries in helping end the violence
in Iraq and securing national reconciliation between Iraqi factions,” the
official said.
“Iraqi stability and security is in Jordan’s interest in as much as it is in
Iraq’s interest.”
The Royal Court said talks also “touched on the question of the international
dispute concerning Iran’s nuclear capabilities”.
“King Abdullah reiterated Jordan’s position in support of a peaceful resolution
to the issue that would spare the region further tensions,” the statement said.
A Jordanian official told AFP that “Jordan is totally opposed to any military
strike on Iran because such action will be catastrophic for the entire region.”
“Jordan will not be involved in such a project.”
In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak warned Cheney against any military
confrontation concerning Iran because it would have “grave repercussions on the
region”, his spokesman Suleiman Awaad said Sunday after Mubarak met with the
vice president, according to the Associated Press.
The US and Iran are in a tense standoff over allegations that Tehran is secretly
developing nuclear weapons and is providing Shiite factions in Iraq with deadly
roadside bombs that kill US troops. Iran denies the claims.