AMMAN, 12 April 2004 — Jordan’s King Abdallah sent a letter yesterday to US President George W. Bush saying that an Israeli and Palestinian state living side by side was the only guarantee for stability in the Middle East.
King Abdallah’s message precedes a visit to the United States later this week, the official Petra news agency reported.
“Jordan strongly supports the vision of the American president for a two-nation solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Petra said, quoting from the letter.
“This is the only acceptable solution and the only way to guarantee stability in the region and security for our people,” the message said.
A palace official told AFP that King Abdallah will leave Wednesday for the United States and is due to meet Bush on April 21 at the White House.
Talks will focus on ways to revive the stalled Middle East peace talks, as well as the situation in Iraq, Jordan’s ambassador to Washington, Karim Kawar, told Petra.
“Jordan sees that the United States has an important role to play at this specific time in the Middle East peace process,” Kawar told Petra. “We don’t want to feel that we have reached a dead end,” he said.
On Iraq, Kawar said Jordan was “very concerned by the deteriorating security situation” in its eastern neighbor. “It is up to the United States and the international community must strive to guarantee the unity and security of Iraq,” he said.
