AQABA, Jordan, 1 April 2007 — German Chancellor Angela Merkel landed in Jordan yesterday to launch a Middle East tour aimed at adding a European dimension to an Arab initiative for peace with Israel. Hot on the heels of an Arab summit, Merkel, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, was met on arrival in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba by Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Khatib ahead of talks with King Abdallah.
The talks are part of efforts to revive the peace process, said Jordan’s Petra news agency. The two leaders were also to discuss efforts to restore security in neighboring Iraq. Merkel was to travel on to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories during her three-day tour.
Her visit follows an agreement struck by Arab leaders at a summit in Riyadh on Thursday to relaunch a five-year-old peace plan that has been rejected by Israel as it stands but seen as a possible starting point.
Meanwhile, the EU pledged to work with President Mahmoud Abbas and other moderates in the Palestinian leadership to support a renewed Arab peace initiative that Europeans see as a hopeful sign in the Middle East peace process, officials said in Bremen yesterday. EU foreign ministers ended a two-day meeting determined “to stay fully engaged” in the search for Mideast peace, said Cristina Gallach, the spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana.
