Jordan Times
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Annapolis should tackle all peace tracks - King
JT and agencies
AMID A FLURRY of diplomatic efforts ahead of the November 27 Annapolis peace meeting, His Majesty King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and preparations for the international gathering.
President Abbas briefed the Monarch on the outcome of his recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
King Abdullah expressed hope that the Annapolis meeting would provide a platform to relaunch negotiations on final status issues and pave the way for peaceful and just solutions on all other tracks of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
He also underlined the importance of seizing the opportunity at hand to address the Syrian and Lebanese peace tracks, especially the question of the occupied Golan Heights.
The King renewed Jordan’s support for the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to reach a clear understanding with the Israeli side to ensure that Annapolis meeting succeeds in laying the ground for viable solutions to final status issues, on the basis of international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. The major outcome of the efforts, he said, should be the establishment of a Palestinian state on all Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza, in accordance with a fixed time frame.
The Monarch said he would intensify consultations and contacts with Arab leaders in the few coming days to develop a unified Arab stand to back the Palestinian position in the meeting.
The King is expected today in Egypt for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on the eve of an Arab League meeting at the level of foreign ministers that will focus on the Annapolis gathering.
King Abdullah urged Israel to enter serious negotiations and to adopt positive positions that lead to a permanent and comprehensive solution to the Middle East peace issue.
In a statement to the press following his meeting with King Abdullah, Abbas said there is a document under discussion which could be finalised later “especially that we are in the last hour of the negotiations, and it is normal that we face some problems and obstacles”.
The King and Abbas are expected to meet Mubarak today in Red Sea resort town of Sharm El Sheikh.
Mubarak’s spokesman Suleiman Awad dismissed earlier reports that Syria and Saudi Arabia would attend Sharm El Sheikh meeting.
The Egyptian president was organising the gathering ahead of an important Arab League ministerial meeting in Cairo in which Arab countries are expected to announce whether they will attend Monday’s conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
For its part, Egypt confirmed its attendance to the Annapolis meeting in a statement Wednesday saying Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit would attend “within the framework of Egypt’s enduring keenness to extend any possible support for the Palestinian cause”.
In the Arab world, there has been great suspicion of the conference, with many nations questioning the Bush administration’s ability to forge peace, particularly between two leaders weakened by internal political turmoil.
After initially expressing scepticism over the conference, Mubarak has since endorsed it and worked on hammering out an Arab consensus ahead of the talks.
So far, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinians are the only Mideast players that have announced their attendance at the US conference in Annapolis. The two main question marks are Saudi Arabia and Syria.
Riyadh, under intense US pressure to attend, has not committed itself to sending a high-level delegation, holding out for a promise that the conference will set a timetable for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to tackle the toughest issues of the conflict.
Syria has said it will only attend if the conference also addresses its track of the peace process with Israel, centred on its demands for the return of the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau seized by Israel in 1967.
The United States invited dozens of countries, institutions and key players in the Middle East to Annapolis meeting.
In addition to the host, Israel and the Palestinians, Washington has extended invitations to other permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Britain and Russia.
Key players and organisations included UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Quartet representative Tony Blair, Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the European Commission and Portugal as the president of the European Union. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will participate as observers.
Other invited countries include: Algeria, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.