Jordan Times
Thursday, May 6, 2010
PA, Jordan coordinate stand
ahead of proximity talks
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN - His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday held talks with Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman.
The talks focused on efforts to push the Mideast peace process forward to reach
a comprehensive peace on the basis of the two-state solution.
The King and Abbas reviewed the efforts being exerted to launch proximity talks
between the Palestinians and Israelis which were endorsed by the Arab Peace
Initiative follow-up committee, which met at the Cairo-based Arab League offices
this week, a Royal Court statement said.
During the meeting, the King stressed Jordan’s support for the efforts of the
Palestinian Authority to establish an independent state on the Palestinian
national soil. Abbas briefed the Monarch on the outcome of his recent visit to
China and several Arab states.
The meeting comes as part of efforts to coordinate stances before Abbas’
imminent visit to Washington. The meeting was attended by Royal Court Chief
Nasser Lawzi, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and the Palestinian
ambassador to the Kingdom, Ata Khairi.
At a press conference after the meeting, Abbas said the meeting “comes as part
of consultations with Arab leaders as we head for a meeting with [US Mideast
special peace envoy] George Mitchell”.
He said the Palestinian leadership deems it necessary to always hold “intensive
consultations with King Abdullah and other Arab leaders”.
Abbas added that he had met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah
of Saudi Arabia and UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Ben Zayed Al Nahayan. These
meetings, he said, are meant to hammer out a unified stand on “coming indirect
talks with Israel”.
On whether the decision to start the indirect talks has been approved or not by
Arabs and other Palestinian parties, Abbas indicated that “we cannot say there
is an approval or not… There is a very important pan-Arab recommendation”.
The Arab foreign ministers backed the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian
proximity talks, saying that the indirect negotiations would last four months
with the outcome to be reviewed before any direct talks. Israel has welcomed the
endorsement.
The Palestinian leadership will meet next Saturday to give its final word.
“After that we will inform Mitchell that we are ready to start the negotiations
on final status issues,” Abbas said.
In his comment on the coordination with Arab countries, Abbas underlined that
“we are keen on maintaining full coordination with Arab countries… Whenever a
new event that needs an urgent response arises, the follow-up committee will
convene to handle the situation”.
“The opinion of the Arab countries is of great importance for us,” Abbas said,
adding: “If they reject a certain move, we will not take it.”
Concerning obstacles that face the proximity talks and whether these talks will
bring about a tangible outcome, Abbas pointed out that these negotiations, “have
a four-month deadline and after that we will report to the Arab League’s
follow-up committee for opinion”. He also indicated that the talks will focus on
final status issues like security and borders with no need to discuss less
important issues which, he said, “had been covered in previous talks”.