Wednesday, September 19, 2001
Arafat arrives in Jordan for talks with King
Arafat would meet King for talks following his ceasefire announcement Tuesday that triggered hopes of a breakthrough in the Middle East conflict
AMMAN (AFP) ---- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrived Wednesday in Jordan for talks with King Abdullah after Palestinian Islamic militant groups rejected his call for a ceasefire with Israel.
A Palestinian diplomat told AFP that Arafat would meet King Abdullah in the afternoon for talks following his ceasefire announcement Tuesday that triggered hopes of a breakthrough in the Middle East conflict.
Arafat flew into Jordan from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he had talks with President Hosni Mubarak.
As their meeting got under way the two leading hardline Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, rejected Arafat's ceasefire call and vowed to continue their resistance to Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.
On Tuesday Israel pledged to stop "offensive operations" against the Palestinians and withdrew its forces from areas it had reoccupied in the West Bank, after Arafat announced the ceasefire.
Egypt, which with Jordan is the only Arab country to have a peace treaty with Israel, has been the main Arab peace broker in the Middle East.