AMMAN/JERUSALEM, 21 July 2007 — Jordan’s King Abdallah is to meet with US President George W Bush in Washington on Tuesday for talks on latest moves aimed at relaunching the Arab-Israeli peace talks, the royal court announced yesterday. “The discussions will tackle the Middle East peace process and the US and international efforts aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state,” a court statement said.
“The talks will also focus on means for building up on the US president’s call on Monday for convening an international peace conference for spurring the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis,” it added. The king has welcomed Bush’s proposal, describing it “a positive step in the right direction.”
Abdallah’s new visit to Washington will coincide with a trip to Israel by the Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib and his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, as emissaries of the Arab League to relay to the Israeli government the text of the Arab peace initiative.
According to the Jordanian ambassador to Israel, Ali Al-Ayed, Khatib and Aboul Gheit will meet with the Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and other Cabinet ministers and parliamentary leaders.
Jordan has long wanted Bush to become more involved in Middle East peacemaking. He is due to leave office in 18 months. The king is spearheading an Arab campaign to get Israel to accept a plan offering a sweeping land-for-peace initiative and has long sought an international meeting that brings together Israel, moderate Palestinian leaders and their Arab neighbors.
The US president’s attempt to jump-start the peace process follows last month’s takeover of the Gaza Strip by the Islamic group Hamas. The power grab split the Palestinian leadership and placed yet another obstacle in the way of a broad Mideast peace deal.
Meanwhile, James Wolfensohn, the former special envoy for the Middle East Quartet, has accused the US administration of thwarting his efforts on the job, according to an interview published in Israel yesterday.
“There was never a desire on the part of the Americans to give up control of the negotiations, and I would doubt that in the eyes of ... the State Department team, I was ever anything but a nuisance,” Haaretz quoted him as saying.
“The basic problem was that I didn’t have the authority. The Quartet had the authority and within the Quartet it was the Americans who had the authority,” the former World Bank president told the daily newspaper. “It was not a Quartet decision to close the office,” he said in what Haaretz called a “very unsubtle hint” over his resignation in 2006.
Haaretz said Wolfensohn believed Israeli officials also regarded him as a nuisance, particularly after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon disappeared from public life following a stroke in January 2006. But he expressed hope that former British Premier Tony Blair, his successor, would have a “greater mandate” than the one he enjoyed.
—With input from agencies
