AMMAN, 19 December 2003 — Jordan’s King Abdallah yesterday urged the United States to intervene to remove obstacles “impeding implementation” of the road map. Israel should take “practical steps” in this direction to enable Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei to come up with “radical remedy of the security file”, according to an official statement.
“During a meeting with a visiting congressional delegation, the monarch stressed the need for the United States and the world community to step in to back the peace process and remove obstacles impeding implementation of the roadmap,” a Royal Court statement said.
“The king underscored the importance of Israel taking practical steps, including cessation of assassinations (of Palestinians), stopping the building of the separation wall and settlement activity so as to enable Qorei to come up with a radical remedy of the security file,” it added.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian minister called for pressure on Israel to allow hundreds of stranded Palestinian refugees who fled Iraq to enter the Palestinian territories, as Jordan spoke of closing their camp. In remarks published yesterday, Jordan’s Interior Minister said the government was in talks to prepare to transfer the refugees and to close the camp. Palestinians say the refugees should be admitted to the West Bank or Gaza.
Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Jamil Al-Tarifi said the refugees would be welcome in the Palestinian territories “but the problem is with the Israeli side”. “We hope Israel will be pressured so that these people will be allowed to enter,” he told Reuters while in Jordan. The Jordanian government, which has hosted successive waves of Palestinian refugees since the creation of Israel in 1948, refused asylum to the group and says it will not host them indefinitely.
