Jordan’s King Holds Talks With Egyptian President, Addresses Summit

Text of report in English by Jordanian news agency Petra-JNA website

["King, Mubarak Affirm Keenness To Save No Effort To Advance Peace Process." - Petra headline]

Sharm al-Shaykh, 25 June: His Majesty King Abdallah II and Egyptian President Husni Mubarak reiterated their common concern to exert every possible effort to push the peace process forward and assist Palestinians and Israelis to go ahead and realize tangible progress in peace making.

King Abdullah and President Mubarak underlined the necessity to preserve unity of the Palestinian rank at this critical phase to enable the Palestinian people regain their legitimate national rights.

The two leaders made their remarks at a bilateral meeting on Monday prior to the convening of the quartet summit at Sharm el- Shaykh which, in addition to King and President Mubarak, will be attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The King called for launching political negotiations based on relevant international resolutions and the Arab peace initiative. He also stressed the necessity to identify the proposed agenda and timetable for these talks within the coming weeks noting that negotiations should eventually lead to the establishment of the independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

King Abdullah and President Mubarak said the recent events in Gaza can never serve the Palestinian people and their just cause. In this context, the King reaffirmed Jordan’s support to Palestinian legitimacy and called the international community and Israel to deal with Gaza Strip as an integral part of the Palestinian territories that are under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.

King Abdullah had another meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during which he asked Israel to take serious steps for confidence building with the Palestinian side to pave the ground for resuming peace talks. At the top these steps, the King said is to release Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, freezing settlement expansion measures halting Israeli excavations in Jerusalem, King Abdullah said.

He also urged Israel to deal seriously with the Arab peace initiative being a good opportunity and an appropriate frame to resolve the Arab Israeli conflict in a way that ensures Israel’s security to live in peace with its Arab neighbours. Otherwise, the entire region will remain vulnerable to more chaos and turmoil and an expanding cycle of violence and tension, he said.

The King added he would pursue efforts to garner international support for the initiative so that it can realize its objectives in enhancing peace and stability in the region. Meanwhile, he called upon Israeli to lift economic blockade on the Palestinians, release Palestinian tax funds it withheld for the Palestinian [National] Authority and ease travel restrictions in the West Bank to alleviate the Palestinian people’s suffering.

[Amman Petra-JNA (Internet Version-WWW) in English at gmt also posts the following report:

"Sharm el-Shaykh, June 25 (Petra) - The quartet summit, bringing together leaders of Jordan, Egypt, Palestine and Israel, started at Sharm el-Shaykh on Monday with the aim pushing peace making efforts forward to reach a just and comprehensive solution for the Palestinian cause based on the Road Map peace plan and the Arab Peace Initiative.

"In a keynote statement at the summit opening, His Majesty King Abdullah II affirmed the need to make use of all potentials and capabilities to help the Palestinian and Israeli peoples put an end to the spiral of violence and launch a genuine peace process to fulfil hopes and aspirations of the peoples in the region to live in security and stability and build a better future for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.

"The King said the grave events that occurred in Gaza Strip during the past few days provide an incentive for all to move forward to achieve peace and security based on the rights that are guaranteed by international legitimacy resolutions for the Palestinian people and based on the two-state solution, a viable Palestinian state on the territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip living in peace and security alongside the State of Israel.

"In this context, His Majesty the King called for creating an appropriate atmosphere for genuine negotiations. This requires supporting the Palestinian legitimacy represented by the Palestinian National Authority, lifting the siege imposed on the Palestinian people, releasing funds withheld by Israel to PNA, and ending restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in return for a Palestinian commitment to honour conventions and agreements concluded between the two parties.

"The path to peace is clear and the path of violence and conflict is clear, too. If we were to be sincere in our intentions and to work on building a better future for our peoples, we should today and not tomorrow, to take the right path to achieve this end based on genuine coexistence, and respect for the rights of others, King stated.

"He stressed that it is an appropriate opportunity today to achieve this long-awaited dream, pointing out that the alternative is the loss of long and arduous years of negotiations, and opening the doors to the enemies of peace to impose their agenda at the expense of the peoples in the region and of the future generations.

"The summit was preceded by bilateral talks between His Majesty King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with the two sides to the conflict.

"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who called for the summit said there were serious and frank consultations during the summit and the bilateral meetings that preceded it to prepare the right atmosphere for restarting the peace process that will eventually address the final status issues away from unilateral acts and temporary solutions.

"The summit, he added discussed effective means to restore calmness, rebuild confidence and immediately put an end to the Palestinian people's suffering.

"The summiteers' standpoints came into agreement on the need to support Palestinian legitimacy, back President Abbas Authority, preserve territorial integrity of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as containing the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian areas, President Mubarak said.

"He noted that realizing peace between the Palestinians and Israelis would open the door for a comprehensive peace on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and new horizons for settling other crises in the region.

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to start jointly serious peace negotiations within an agreed upon timetable to establish a Palestinian state with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital and living in peace and security alongside Israel.

"Realizing this is our responsibility towards our people who elected us to meet their hopes and aspirations for establishing comprehensive peace and ending the Arab-Israeli conflict peace, he said.

"The wounds and bloody coup in Gaza will not affect our determination to work diligently to attain this objective Abbas added. He asserted his commitment to honour international legitimacy, renounce terror and violence, respect agreements concluded with Israel and the two-state solution. He also noted the Palestinians' recognition of Israel in 1993.

"The political programme of the new Palestinian government led by Salameh Fayyadh is committed to the peace option, Abbas said stressing unity of the Palestinian land. The West Bank including Eastern Jerusalem and Gaza Strip is one whole geographical unit, he said.

"Any solution should be based on the Arab peace initiative, the road map peace plan, the concluded international agreements and US President Bush's vision for peace, President Abbas said.

"On his part Olmert said his government recognizes the new Palestinian government and is ready to implement the road map with this government. He said he sees President Abbas as a true peace partner to achieve the two-state solution living side by side in peace and security.

"Olmert said tax funds will be released to the Palestinian [National] Authority regularly and he will renew economic and security cooperation with the Palestinians.

“He also disclosed that he will be meeting Abbas once every two weeks to help create the desired political atmosphere to establish the Palestinian state.”]

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.