AMMAN, 21 April 2004 — Jordan’s King Abdallah postponed a White House meeting with US President George W. Bush this week, questioning the US commitment to the Middle East peace process.
Abdallah, who had been in the United States since last week, returned home yesterday but asked Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher to remain in Washington to continue discussions with officials in the Bush administration and to prepare for the king’s return to the United States in May.
A palace statement late Monday said the Abdallah-Bush meeting would not be held “until discussions and deliberations are concluded with officials in the American administration to clarify the American position on the peace process and the final situation in the Palestinian territories, especially in light of the latest statements by officials in the American administration.”
The snub from one of Washington’s closest allies comes amid Arab anger at Bush for endorsing an Israeli proposal to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank but keep Jewish settlements on other West Bank land claimed by the Palestinians.
Bush’s statement — made at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week — also ruled out the Palestinians’ right to return and constituted a historic shift in US policy. Palestinian leaders accused the administration of undercutting the possibility of a negotiated settlement.
Jordan’s 14 opposition parties welcomed the king’s decision and called for the closure of the Israeli Embassy in Amman.
The White House played down any hint of friction with Jordan, saying today’s meeting with Abdallah was rescheduled to the first week of May “because of developments in the region.” “The king decided this week it was better for him to be in Jordan and we understand that,” Sean McCormack, spokesman for the National Security Council, said in Washington.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States will be able to address concerns about the US commitment to the road map. Powell acknowledged that those concerns had prompted Abdallah and Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath to postpone meetings in Washington, but said he believed Bush’s decision was the best way to move forward in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The concerns that he (Abdallah) has, I am sure that we can address,” he told reporters at the State Department after meeting with top EU diplomat Javier Solana. “The concerns that others have expressed, I think we can address.”
Jordan is a key ally of the United States and is one of only two of Israel’s Arab neighbors to have a peace treaty with Israel. But some Jordanian citizens question their government’s relationship with the United States, which they accuse of siding with Israel against the Palestinians.
Abdallah is under pressure at home to demonstrate his US ties can further Arab positions on the Israeli-Palestinian question as well as on the US occupation of Iraq.
Jordan is especially concerned that a final peace settlement would be at its expense if refugees were dumped into the kingdom. Roughly half of Jordan’s 5.1 million population is of Palestinian families who fled or were forced out of their homes in 1948 and 1967 Middle East wars.
