Jordan Times
Thursday, April 3, 2008
King, Mubarak urge boost
to Arab joint action
JT and agencies
During a meeting in Cairo, which was joined later by Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, the two leaders said that the escalating challenges the region is
facing necessitates serious and genuine efforts to institutionalise joint Arab
action and to develop cooperation and coordination among Arab countries, to
safeguard their interests.
Talks between the two sides also addressed means to enhance bilateral
cooperation in all spheres.
Peace
The talks also addressed efforts under way to push the peace negotiations
between the Palestinians and Israelis forward to arrive at a just settlement for
the Palestinian issue that leads to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The two leaders called for further support from the international community for
peace negotiations, warning that wasting the opportunity at hand to make peace
would have its repercussions on the security and stability of the entire region.
King Abdullah and Mubarak called on Israel to respond seriously to peace
initiatives and honour its pledges in this regard.
Israel, they said, should stop all unilateral practices and procedures, calling
for an immediate end, in particular, to its settlement activities in the
Palestinian territories and the stifling blockade it is imposing on the
Palestinians.
During the meeting, they also reviewed the outcome of US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice’s recent visit to the region.
Abbas briefed King Abdullah and Mubarak on progress in negotiations between the
Palestinians and Israelis and the situation in the Palestinian territories.
The three leaders renewed a call for a more active US role in supporting and
encouraging Mideast peace talks, saying such support is essential for the
success of the upcoming efforts to push the process forward.
Meanwhile, Mubarak briefed King Abdullah on the outcome of his recent visit to
Moscow, highlighting Russia’s serious efforts to hold an international peace
conference, in continuation of efforts launched at the Annapolis peace
conference, which Washington hosted last November.
Following a separate meeting with Mubarak, Abbas said he would withhold any
assessment of the peace process with Israel until the two sides start putting a
draft accord on paper.
"I can't speak of progress as long as we have not started to edit a draft. When
we start drafting we will feel we have started to make progress," he told
reporters.
So far, Abbas said, the two sides - aiming for a peace deal by the end of 2008
as targeted by Washington - have only had "exchanges of ideas, a dialogue... in
depth."
The Palestinian leader stressed that the contacts since the peace process was
revived at Annapolis had homed in on core issues and final status points of
dispute.
"We are now in a process of negotiations in which we are discussing key issues.
We are tackling questions linked to the final status," Abbas said.
"These are serious discussions... between all the parties concerned -
Palestinians, Israel and also Americans - on the fact we must use 2008 to seal
an accord with Israel on the final status" of the Palestinian territories.
But "for now, I cannot say whether we will succeed by the end of 2008", in time
for the end of US President George W. Bush's term in office.
Abbas, who also held two sessions of talks with Rice in Amman Sunday and Monday,
has said he will hold a face-to-face meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert next Monday.
The last meeting between Abbas and Olmert was in Jerusalem on February 19, after
which the Palestinian president suspended all talks in protest at a deadly
Israeli blitz on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
At a joint press conference following the meeting, Foreign Minister Salah Bashir
and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Aboul Gheit said the two-way talks and the
tripartite summit mainly addressed efforts to advance the peace process, on the
basis of the Arab Peace Initiative and international resolutions in this regard.
Lebanon and Iraq
Talks between King Abdullah and Mubarak also addressed the situation in Lebanon
and Iraq.
The two leaders stressed the need to find a way out of the political crisis in
Lebanon and the need to elect a consensus Lebanese president under the Arab
League initiative.
Lebanon has been without a president since Emile Lahoud stood down last
November.
The parliament has failed on 17 occasions to elect a new head of the state. The
next session to elect a president is scheduled for April 22.
The pan-Arab initiative on Lebanon calls mainly for appointing army leader
Michel Sleiman as president and form a national unity government.
Addressing the situation in Iraq, they reiterated their support for efforts to
achieve security and stability and maintain national unity.