Jordan Times
Monday, October 5, 1998
Parliamentary union president arrives for talks on Mideast peace
AMMAN (Petra) — The president of the International Parliamentary Union, Miguel Martinez, Sunday opened talks with Lower House Speaker Sa'd Hayel Srour and Parliament members on Middle East questions and the peace process.
Martinez, who arrived yesterday from Israel on a two-day official visit, held a closed-door meeting with Srour followed by an enlarged meeting with the chairperson and members of the House's Arab and Foreign Affairs Committee to review the IPU's plans and preparations for coming union meetings.
During the four-hour meeting, Martinez discussed Middle East questions, continued efforts to give impetus to the peace process, Jordanian-IPU cooperation and IPU-related affairs.
Speaking to reporters following his arrival, Martinez said he hoped to discuss means of reviving the stalled peace process, which he noted has drawn world attention in general and the IPU's concern in particular because of the “frustrating” standstill in the current situation.
Martinez said that in his visit to the country last year, he received a positive response concerning efforts needed to revive the peace process.
Martinez added that after his visit, he will return to Israel to urge the government to freeze Jewish settlement programmes on Arab lands and open the way for the resumption of negotiations.
He said questions pertaining to the IPU's future challenges will be discussed with Parliament.
For his part, Srour said the IPU president will review recent developments in the Middle East region, the deadlocked peace process and possibly the Syrian-Turkish situation in addition to preparations for the IPU meeting in three months in Vienna.