AMMAN/JERUSALEM, 30 November 2004 — Jordan said yesterday it sees a new opportunity to revive the stalled Middle East peace process and pledged support to the new Palestinian leadership after the death of Yasser Arafat.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, on a visit to Amman, said they briefed Jordanian officials on the improved prospects of a resumption of peace talks with Israel.
Abbas and Qorei held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday during their first trip abroad to drum up Arab support since the death of Arafat on Nov. 11.
“We feel that there is a chance to bring the peace process back on track... we’ve expressed our full support for the Palestinian Authority. The focus will be on the political phase now,” Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher told reporters.
The Palestinian delegation met Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez and King Abdallah.
The monarch pledged to garner support for a Palestinian state — a key element in an internationally drafted peace “road map” — when he meets US President George W. Bush next month.
“His majesty said he would focus on methods to gather support for the steps taken by the Palestinian leadership to set up a Palestinian state, which requires resuming the peace process,” he was quoted in a royal court statement as saying.
Abbas took over from Arafat as leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and is the leading candidate to succeed him as president in elections on Jan. 9.
Muasher called on Israel to create a “more conducive atmosphere” for a resumption of talks.
“We are not only talking here of halting the Israeli offensives but also about a scaling down of security and an Israeli withdrawal to ensure the Palestinian elections are held,” Muasher said.
Abbas said Jordan would provide the Palestinians with security training. The offer follows one from Egypt which on Sunday said it would help the Palestinian Authority prepare its security apparatus in preparation for Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza next year.
Abbas said the Palestinian team would visit Syria on Dec. 6.
The visit is expected to patch up ties between the Palestinians and Syria, which had been tense for years after disagreements between Arafat and former Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad, who died in 2000. Attempts to reconcile the two sides failed.
But Arafat met Assad’s son and successor Bashar in Amman on the sidelines of an Arab summit in March 2001. A visit by Arafat to Damascus in September 2001 was scrapped at the last minute.
“If the visit succeeds it will open a window toward the peace process,” former Jordanian Prime Minister Taher Al-Masri said.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian gunmen who attacked an army post in the central Gaza Strip yesterday, the Hamas group said.
Three fighters lobbed grenades and opened fire on soldiers stationed in a watchtower near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Soldiers killed two of the men, one from Hamas and the other from the Popular Resistance Committees, Hamas said.
An Israeli military source said the third gunman got away.
In another development, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday narrowly survived three parliamentary no-confidence votes sponsored by left-wing and other opposition parties.
The motions against his shaky coalition did not pass because small dovish factions decided not to be involved in toppling Sharon, saying his plan to withdraw settlers and soldiers from occupied Gaza next year was paramount.
Sharon scraped by 46-45 with seven abstentions in the first vote, 51-49 with six abstentions in the second and 50-47 with five abstentions in the third.
But a coalition crisis worsened when Sharon’s main partner, the secular-rights Shinui party, threatened earlier in the day to resign over funding he promised to one religious faction in exchange for votes critical to passing the 2005 state budget.
Its first reading was set for tomorrow. If the budget is not enacted by March 31, Sharon would fall and early elections would be held, delaying the Gaza plan indefinitely.
