AMMAN, 30 April 2006 — Jordan’s King Abdallah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have agreed to ask major powers to revive Middle East peace talks next month to pre-empt Israeli unilateral moves, their foreign ministers said yesterday.
Both countries are worried about the prospects for Arab-Israeli peace after the election of a new Israeli government under Ehud Olmert and a new Palestinian government led by Hamas.
Olmert says he aims to set Israel’s borders unilaterally if no basis can be found for negotiations — a prospect that seems remote since Hamas is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has refused to sign up to existing interim peace deals.
After a summit in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and his Jordanian counterpart Abdelelah Al-Khatib told reporters they would lobby a meeting of the Middle East Quartet in New York on May 9.
The Quartet comprises the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. Jordan and Egypt are to attend as regional partners from the Middle East.
“We believe the coming meeting of the Quartet to be very important and timely and coming after a long suspension of the peace process which faces a difficult period,” Khatib said.
“There ought to be international efforts to push forward the peace process away from unilateral steps and a return to the negotiating table.” The Quartet backs a negotiated two-state solution, but its road map for arriving there has been wrecked by many months of violence and increasing intransigence.
Egypt and Jordan, which both have peace treaties and diplomatic relations with Israel, want the Hamas-led government to accept an Arab peace initiative dating from 2002. This offers Israel peace and normal ties in exchange for withdrawal from land occupied in the Middle East War of 1967.
Egyptian and Jordanian officials also discussed the financial plight of the Palestinian government, Aboul Gheit said without elaborating.
International donors, led by the United States, have halted direct aid because Hamas has not renounced violence, recognized Israel or agreed to abide by existing peace deals.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent out invitations yesterday for a national dialogue on the Palestinian Authority’s economic and political crisis, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by AFP.
Invitations for the May 2-4 conference were sent to the Hamas government, armed groups and members of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization among others.
The conference is “aimed at discussing the current situation (in the Palestinian territories), reinforcing unity and confronting the financial crisis,” the invitation read.
In the face of a severe curtailment of aid, the Palestinian Authority has failed to pay its 160,000 civil servants for the last two months.
The conference looks to spark a broad, inclusive debate among Palestinians, with businessmen, university deans, mayors and newspaper editors invited to attend.
Hamas’ parliamentary Seaker Aziz Dweik had appealed to Abbas in mid-April to hold such a conference to bridge the gap between Hamas and other factions including Abbas’ Fatah movement.
The Palestinian government is in dire financial straits after the United States and European Union slashed funds to the PA after Hamas swept legislative elections in January.
The economic woes have been coupled with power struggles between Hamas and Abbas, particularly for control of the government’s security apparatus. Abbas has vetoed the creation of a volunteer force of hundreds of gunmen from militant factions as announced by Hamas Interior Minister Said Siam.
