AMMAN, 5 June 2007 — Jordan yesterday urged all parties in the Middle East conflict to back an Arab initiative for peace with Israel, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
“It is a time to reflect. We all have to pool our efforts toward supporting the Arab peace initiative and returning the parties to the negotiating table,” Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Jawdeh said.
“Forty years on, the problem is still there and we have to work and exert every effort in a concerted way by all the parties involved and by all those who want peace and stability to reign in this region,” he told a weekly news conference. Jawdeh insisted that the peace initiative adopted at an Arab summit in March offers a “window of opportunity” to end decades of conflict with Israel and paves the way for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
“Perhaps this is the last one to come for a while now so we all have to take advantage of this window,” he said echoing remarks made by Jordan’s King Abdallah.
‘Return of Golan Inalienable Right’
Syria insisted yesterday on its determination to recover the Golan Heights. “Despite offers to hand over the Golan in exchange for (Damascus) ceasing support for the Palestinian cause, Syria insists that the return of Golan is an inalienable Syrian right,” the official Ath-Thawra wrote.
