AMMAN (Petra) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday said Israel should enter into talks with the Palestinians over final status issues as a prerequisite to the success of the US-proposed international Mideast conference.

He said during talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Jordan supports the Palestinians’ demand that Israel accept to discuss issues like Jerusalem, borders and refugees.

Abbas was in Amman to brief the Monarch on the outcome of his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday, which focused on issues related to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The international meeting, called for by US President George W. Bush, is expected during November to push forward the Middle East peace process towards an independent state on the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

King Abdullah urged Palestinian political powers to coordinate their stands so that they would be able to stand up to the current challenges and eventually gain their legitimate rights, chief among which is a viable state on their national soil.

The Monarch stressed the importance of continued international economic support for the Palestinians to ease their bleak living conditions, especially in the Gaza Strip.

Also yesterday, King Abdullah discussed over telephone peace efforts with the Israeli premier, voicing hope that the Abbas-Olmert meeting would contribute to reviving the peace process.

In statements to Jordan Television (JTV) following his meeting with the Monarch, Abbas said: ”King Abdullah and I discussed the general situation in the Palestinian lands, with focus on the issues on the agenda of my meeting with Olmert.”

These also included daily life problems facing the Palestinians and the prisoners issue, Abbas told the station

Abbas voiced concern over preparations for the upcoming peace conference.

He said there is vagueness over three key elements of the meeting: the date, participants and the agenda.

“If we go to the conference without a clear solution taking shape, and without arriving at a declaration of principles coupled with a [time] framework, I do not think the conference will be of any good,” Abbas said.

On the internal Palestinian situation, Abbas said: “If Hamas goes back on its coup and corrects the mistakes it committed, the situation will be settled.”

“We are doing our utmost to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people,” he said, in reference to the economic hardships and difficult living conditions in the Gaza Strip, including power cutoffs, food shortage, difficult movement of people and delay in paying salaries.

“All this suffering will disappear when Hamas reverses the impact of the coup,” he told JTV.