 |
 |
 |
|
|
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will visit Jordan (AP file)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Associated Press June 6, 2006 |
|
| |
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will visit Jordan Thursday for talks on reviving the stalled Mideast peace process, Jordanian and Israeli officials said Tuesday.
Olmert will meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II during his visit of several hours, Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh told The Associated Press.
Israeli Embassy press attache, Jacob Raber, confirmed Olmert's visit, saying the talks will be held in Amman. But he declined to provide other details.
The prime minister's trip will be his second to an Arab country since taking office earlier this year. Olmert held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik Sunday.
Judeh declined to reveal the agenda of talks with Olmert, whose country has maintained relatively warm relations with Jordan since the Mideast neighbors signed a peace treaty in 1994.
Abdullah, a key Arab ally for the U.S and a staunch proponent of a peaceful Palestinian-Israeli settlement, is likely to press the Israeli leader to resume peace negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Jordanian monarch has repeatedly called on Olmert to refrain from unilateral actions that might jeopardize a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank, which Israel seized from Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Jordan is concerned about Olmert's vision of a two-state solution in which Israel would unilaterally draw the final borders with the Palestinians. The kingdom is worried that Olmert's plan could undermine Palestinian statehood and upset Palestinians in living here.
Roughly half of Jordan's 5.5 million population is made up of Palestinians. Most fled or were driven out of their homes in two wars with Israel since 1948 or are descended from such persons.
Olmert has said he was ready to meet Abbas to explore whether stalled efforts to end more than 5 years of fighting could be resumed.
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
