Home  |  Web Resources  |  Free Advertising

Change Your Life!

King Abdullah visits Palestinians and Israel

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

Jordanian King Abdullah, left, and and former Israeli First Lady Leah Rabin, right, pay their respects in front of the memorial set for the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin at the place where he was slain in 1995 in Tel Aviv Tuesday Aug. 22, 2000. King Abdullah's visit will focus attention on talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders on the Middle East peace agreement after the Camp David summitcollapsed last month in Washington.(AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

August 23, 2000 

TEL AVIV (AP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II held back-to-back talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders Tuesday in an effort to safeguard his country's interests in a future Mideast peace agreement.

Egypt has stepped up its role as mediator between Israel and the Palestinians in recent days, and there was some speculation that the Jordanian monarch would bring compromise proposals of his own, especially on how to share Jerusalem.

Jordan is the country most intricately linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is home to 1.5 million Palestinian refugees, considers itself a traditional caretaker of Muslim holy shrines in east Jerusalem, the sector claimed as a Palestinian capital, and will have a long border with a future Palestinian state.

Abdullah has said his country should receive a large share of a future compensation package for Palestinian refugees.

The monarch is the first Arab leader to visit Israel since July's Mideast peace summit at Camp David, which broke down because of a dispute over Jerusalem.

In an arrival speech at a small airfield in Tel Aviv, Abdullah reaffirmed the Palestinians' right to statehood, but also said that "the Israelis have the right to know that they have solid partners that they can live and interact with."

Abdullah reassured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is sincere in reaching a peace accord.

Barak said the Palestinian leader could do more. Israel has already made painful concessions for peace, Barak told Abdullah. "To our regret, we don't yet see a parallel approach on the other side that will make it possible to reach an agreement," the prime minister said.

Earlier Tuesday, Abdullah met with Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The two leaders did not speak to reporters, but Jordan's foreign minister, Abdul-Illah Khatib, affirmed his country's support for a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem, the sector Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.

However, in a nod to Israel, Khatib also said a peace treaty must address "the legitimate religious concerns of the Jews." The most difficult issue is control over holy sites in east Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, once the site of biblical Jewish temples, and now home to major Islamic shrines.

Jordan's King Abdullah, left, looks away as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak walks behind him after arriving to Tel Aviv Tuesday Aug. 22 2000 .Trying to safeguard Jordan's interests, King Abdullah on Tuesday arrived for top-level briefings in Israel and the Palestinian areas about new U.S. and Egyptian efforts to broker a compromise in peace talks. (AP Photo Eyal Warshavsky)

The 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan accords a "special" role to Jordan in looking after Muslim sites in east Jerusalem, but Jordan has increasingly withdrawn its claims. For example, the Jordanian-appointed top cleric in the city has been edged out by Arafat's representative.

The fate of the refugees is also a possible issue of contention.

The king wants to influence Israel to accept the return of some Palestinian refugees in Jordan. He also seeks a large compensation package for hosting the refugees since Israel's founding in 1948 and the 1967 Mideast war. Jordan says it spends dlrs 350 million each year to maintain 13 refugee camps.

The Palestinians want to ensure the money goes directly to the refugees.

After his arrival in Tel Aviv, Abdullah laid a wreath at the spot where the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an ultranationalist Jew in 1995. Abdullah's father, the late King Hussein, had forged a strong bond with Rabin.

In a diplomatic flap, Israel's new president, Moshe Katsav, stayed away from the ceremonies for the king. Katsav's top aide, Arieh Shumer, said the president felt Abdullah should have called on him in Jerusalem which Israel claims as its undivided capital.