The ongoing isolation of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat by Israel is making the life of his Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas more difficult, Jordan's King Abdullah II said in a special interview with a Tel-Aviv based paper.
"Yasser Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinian people and his isolation is making things more difficult for Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas rather than helping solve the problems," the King told Haaretz daily.
King Abdullah said that the best way to push forward the peace process was to seek to reinforce Abbas' position "and those who can do so are the Israelis".
In the interview, King Abdullah said that with progress in the peace process, he hopes to be able to order the Jordanian ambassador back to Tel Aviv and restore the ties between the two countries to the level of three years ago, prior to the outbreak of the intifada. Such progress, said the King, would also permit him to visit Israel.
Moreover, the king said that he hoped that the internationally backed roadmap for peace could bring an end to the decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
