Jordan Times
Tuesday, October 13, 1998
Regent, Arafat express hope Washington summit will yield positive results
AMMAN — His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hassan, the Regent, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat expressed hope that Palestinian and Israeli negotiators will reach an agreement during their talks in Washington next week.
“We are always optimistic,” Prince Hassan said in a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader. “We have to reach a clear threshold of accomplishment. This is what we do expect. God willing.”
The Regent said that Jordan resorts to “quiet and constructive diplomacy” in support of the Palestinian negotiators.
The Palestinian leader's visit came ahead of a summit at Wye Plantation near Washington on Oct. 15 with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Bill Clinton.
The U.S. president called the summit after Israel agreed in principle to withdraw from a further 13 per cent of the West Bank before the two sides launch final status negotiations.
The two parties are still far apart on several issues, and both Israeli and Palestinian negotiators expressed fear that the meeting will achieve little.
“We hope to arrive at a conclusion and something concrete not only talks, talks, talks,” President Arafat told reporters after his meeting with the Regent.
“I am sure that President Clinton will push forward and exert all his efforts for a positive conclusion and positive results,” Arafat said.
“We hope that the American initiative will be accepted and we will start implementing it in Washington,” the Palestinian leader added.
He was referring to the U.S. proposal for an Israeli army withdrawal from 13 per cent of the West Bank, which the Palestinians have accepted but to which Israel has given no “official” approval.
“We hope that we will reach a major accomplishment regarding the redeployment and Jerusalem, which is facing a Judaisation plan,” Arafat said.
Prince Hassan and the Palestinian leader said they also discussed trade between Jordan and the Palestinian National Authority, which faces serious obstacles from the Israeli side.
During his visit to the U.S., Arafat said he would visit His Majesty King Hussein at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he is undergoing chemotherapy.
Responding to a question on the appointment of Ariel Sharon as Israel's foreign minister, Arafat said that it was an “internal [Israeli] issue.”
“It concerns them. We have nothing to do with it, and I want to remind you that Sharon took part with [former Israeli premier Menachem] Begin in the Israeli pullout from the Sinai [peninsula],” he said.
Commenting on the Turkish-Syrian crisis, Prince Hassan urged the two sides to resort to “wisdom” and settle their differences peacefully.
He expressed Jordanian appreciation for the Egyptian and Iranian attempts at mediation to contain the tension.
“We hope that wisdom will prevail between the two sides... we are working with all our efforts to contain the crisis. I want to remind you that this region lacks a collective effort [to settle crises] in such circumstances,” the Regent said.
He added that another regional crisis would weaken efforts to solve the main problems, namely the Palestinian question.