AMMAN, 2 September 2007 — King Abdallah of Jordan yesterday praised US President George W. Bush’s proposal for holding an international conference on the Middle East this fall as a “positive step” toward finding a solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“We consider this meeting, in which Jordan will take part, a positive step toward the purported peace,” the king said in an interview with the state-run Jordan television.
“We hope the conference will represent a big opportunity for finding a solution for the Palestinian question, which is the core of the Middle East conflict, in accordance with the international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab peace initiative,” he added.
Jordan wants the meeting to pave the ground for negotiations between Israel and Palestine on the final status issues, Jerusalem, the settlements, the refugees and frontiers, officials said.
“It is high time for Israel to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people and to realize that, if it wants to win recognition of Arab and Islamic states and to have a future in this region, it should show cooperation for the creation of an independent Palestinian state,” the king said.
He urged Palestinians to close ranks and “let reason and wisdom prevail” for the sake of regaining Palestinian rights, a reference to Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June.
Abdallah also ruled out any confederation between Jordan and the Palestinian territories before the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s largest political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), yesterday welcomed Abdallah’s assurances that the parliamentary elections, set for Nov. 20, would be held in a “fair” atmosphere.
However, the IAF Secretary-General Zaki Bani Ershaid said that such fairness would be unattainable without changing the present one-person-one-vote election law and the government’s present policies which he alleged were responsible for “rigging” the municipal polls on July 31.
Abdallah said he was “committed to conducting fair parliamentary elections with the participation of all citizens”.
“We hope that the ballots will result in the election of a strong House of Representatives that lives up to this homeland’s aspirations and challenges,” the king said.
Bani Ershaid said the king’s pledge that the forthcoming general elections would be fair should prompt the government to “open serious and productive dialogue” with opposition parties and ensure “civic and judicial supervision” of the polls.
