Jordan Times
Friday, November 23, 2007
King holds summit with Mubarak, Abbas
Agencies
JORDAN AND EGYPT on Thursday renewed support for the Palestinian leadership’s demands that final status issues be discussed during November 27 Annapolis peace meeting.
During a summit meeting between His Majesty King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at Sharm El Sheikh, joined later by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the leaders underscored the need to intensify efforts to urge the concerned parties, especially Israel, to adopt serious steps to realise the desired results of the meeting.
The summit coincided with the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting, who mulled in their Cairo meeting whether to join the conference.
Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad told journalists that “the three leaders have the same view that this meeting opens the way for much optimism in that it could fulfil the ambitions of the Palestinian and Arab peoples”.
The letter of invitation to the conference “contains some reference points for peace including the Arab Peace Initiative and the principle of land-for-peace”, Awad said.
During a visit to Egypt on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he hoped to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians in 2008.
Awad also raised the prospect of the Israelis and Palestinians failing to agree on a joint document to be presented at the conference amid diverging views, even over what the statement should be called.
“Nobody can say if they will reach a shared document or not,” Awad told journalists.
“There are two options: either we arrive in Annapolis with a shared document or each side presents its position [at the conference] clearly and vigorously,” Awad said.
The Palestinian leadership and other Arab states are looking to tackle the thorniest issues such as the status of East Jerusalem, the boundaries of a future Palestinian state and the status of Palestinian refugees.
Israel instead wants a less detailed document, stating a list of principles on which to base negotiations.
Late Thursday, 11 foreign ministers, including Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, and two ambassadors from countries on the Arab League’s peace initiative committee began informal meetings in the Egyptian capital.
The meetings are expected to chisel a unified Arab stand on the Annapolis conference that would be endorsed Friday at the official league meeting, also to be attended by Abbas.
“The main issue on the agenda is to decide whether Arab participation will be determined by a common decision, or individually,” said Hisham Yussef, Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa’s chief-of-staff.
The Cairo meeting brought together members of the Arab follow-up committee - which includes Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan and the Palestinian Authority - tasked with reactivating the Arab Peace Initiative.
The plan offers normalisation of ties with the Jewish state in exchange for Israel withdrawing from Arab land occupied since 1967.
As the talks approach, the United States is hoping to widen the scope of the conference by enticing Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Syria to join the summit.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that Washington wanted “as broad an Arab participation as possible”. The US administration had initially wanted to limit the conference agenda to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but has decided to broaden the discussions to satisfy several Arab countries, particularly Saudi Arabia.
“There is very clear understanding among everybody that this is a meeting about the Palestinians and Israelis. But nobody denies that you will eventually have to resolve the Syrian-Israeli track, the Lebanese-Israeli track, and ultimately that there has to be normalisation of relations between Israel and the Arab world,” Rice said.
Saudi Arabia, a principal patron of the Palestinians and an influential voice in the Muslim world, has yet to confirm its participation at the conference.
Oman became the first of the pro-Western Arab states in the Gulf to announce it would attend Annapolis, with Foreign Minister Yussef Ben Alawi Ben Abdullah hailing Washington’s “serious efforts”.
Syria’s President Bashar Assad has said that Damascus will stay away from Annapolis unless the broader Israeli-Arab conflict is up for discussion, including the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Egypt, a key broker between Israel and the Palestinians, said on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit would be its representative at the talks.