Jordan Times
Friday, March 28, 2008
Palestinian economy should see improvement - King
JT & agencies
HIS MAJESTY KING Abdullah on Sunday said Palestinians should see improvement to
their economic situation, underlining the role the US can play towards this end.
At a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, King Abdullah called
for intensified efforts on the part of Washington to help the Palestinians and
Israelis move forward in the peace process.
Rice was in Amman as part of a regional tour to discuss ways to advance the
peace process. She met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman earlier
yesterday and with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Saturday.
Rice on Sunday secured an Israeli pledge to remove 50 West Bank roadblocks to
improve the daily lives of Palestinians and reinvigorate Middle East peace
talks.
The move was included in a package of steps Israel announced following a
three-way meeting between Rice, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
King Abdullah said Israel's continued policy of unilateralism, particularly its
practices in Jerusalem and settlement expansion pose as real impediments to
international and regional efforts to achieve peace.
He warned that failure to achieve progress in the peace process would threaten
the region's future, and in turn deepen the sense of despair and widen the
circle of violence.
The King and Rice also discussed bilateral relations between Jordan and the US.
Rice renewed the US administration's commitment to achieve peace in the Middle
East and to work with both Israelis and Palestinians towards that goal. She said
ways needed to be found to ease movement and access for Palestinians on the West
Bank to facilitate economic development.
She also renewed the administration's support for Jordan's economic programme.
The US official was due to return to Jerusalem to meet for a second time with
Olmert on Monday.
She is also scheduled to hold a second round of talks with Abbas later on Monday
in Amman before winding up her mission
In Jerusalem, Israel promised Rice it "will remove some 50 barriers to allow
vehicle movement between the towns of Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Ramallah",
the Israeli defence ministry said earlier Sunday.
The measure affects a fraction of more than 500 roadblocks and checkpoints the
army operates across the occupied West Bank, but Israel said it will examine the
possibility of removing further roadblocks by May.
Fayyad hailed the move, saying: "We accept these measures as acts to improve the
people's lives and strengthen the ability to work and build our state."
The defence ministry said Palestinian security forces loyal to Abbas would
deploy 700 police in the Jenin area in the northern West Bank, but that "overall
security responsibility will remain in Israel's hands".
Israel also agreed to ease travel restrictions for 1,500 Palestinians and
increase Palestinian work permits in Israel in a bid to rehabilitate the
Palestinian economy.
Speaking to reporters after the three-way meeting, Rice said the removal of the
roadblocks would start "very, very soon".
"What we have to do is to have meaningful progress toward a better life for the
Palestinian people, for economic viability for Palestinians even as we move for
the establishment of a state," she had said earlier.
Rice began her visit on Saturday with a working dinner with Olmert and on Sunday
had breakfast with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who acknowledged the importance
of improving the Palestinian economy.
"Israel and the Palestinians both understand that the Palestinians' economy is
part of our interest and Israel's security is part of the Palestinians'
interest," Livni told reporters at a press conference with Rice.