AMMAN, 28 June 2004 — Jordan’s King Abdallah insisted that a planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza must be the “starting point” for a pullout from the West Bank, in talks yesterday with US Middle East envoy William Burns.
“Israel’s plan to withdraw from Gaza must be the starting point of a pullout from the occupied West Bank,” the king told Burns, according to a statement from the royal court.
“For this plan to be successful it must be part of the road map which calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state,” the Jordanian king told the envoy at his residence in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba.
Burns assured King Abdallah that the United States was determined to work to achieve peace in the Middle East, adding that Israel’s plan to withdraw from Gaza was a “step” toward “lasting peace” between Israel and the Palestinians.
Earlier Burns held talks in Amman with Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher on moving forward peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians as well as the Gaza pullout, officials said.
During the meeting Moasher reiterated Jordan’s readiness to back the Palestinian Authority with all available means.
The US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and former ambassador to Jordan arrived yesterday in Amman from the West Bank town of Ramallah, where he met Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei.
“I expressed President Bush’s determination to do everything the United States can to help seize the opportunity presented by the Israeli initiative to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank as part of the full implementation of the road map, and ultimately, toward a negotiated two-state solution,” Burns said after talks with the Palestinian prime minister.
On Thursday, Burns took part in a meeting of the international Middle East diplomatic quartet which endorsed Egypt’s offer to underpin security in Gaza after the promised Israeli pullout.
King Abdallah has also accepted a formal request from Qorei to help train Palestinian security forces for a future role in Gaza.
Burns has been touring the region for the past week, visiting Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. His next destination remained unclear.
