Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned against the danger of the latest escalation in the Palestinian territories on the whole region and reiterated that the kingdom stands by the Palestinian people and their just rights.
The King, in two separate telephone calls on Wednesday with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called for resorting to dialogue in order to return to the negotiating table and implement the signed agreements and understandings between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
Following these phone calls Abdullah left for Washington for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on the "complex" Israeli-Palestinian conflict, officials said. King Abdullah will warn U.S. leadership of the dangers of downgrading or suspending Washington's ties with the Palestinian Authority and urge the return of a direct U.S. role in efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians, they added.
On the eve of his departure, the Jordanian monarch told the kingdom's news agency Petra that his talks with Bush would concentrate on "the complicated situation" in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
"We are facing one of the region's most difficult stages. The complicated situation that the Palestinian cause finds itself in is at the forefront of these difficulties," Abdullah said. He added Israel had taken advantage of the U.S. campaign against terror to wreck the Middle East peace process. "Israel has exploited the preoccupation of the United States and the international community to combat terrorism to achieve its agenda in trying to eliminate the peace process and hit the Palestinian Authority," the king stated.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher who accompanies Abdullah to Washington told AFP on Wednesday that "King Abdullah will underline the importance of pursuing the dialogue between the American administration and Mr. Arafat." The king will explain to Bush the "negative repercussions a break with Arafat could have for the region, the Palestinian people and Arab moderate countries," commented Moasher.
Abdullah, who is acting president of the Arab summit, consulted with Arab leaders ahead of his Washington visit "in order to present the American administration with a clear Arab position," Moasher added.
Iraq, another Middle East flashpoint, is also projected to be raised in the talks between Abdullah and Bush. Officials said the king would express Arab objection to U.S. attacking Iraq within its war against global terrorism.
Cheney
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney appears to have toned down his accusation that Palestinian leader Arafat was directly involved in the Karine A weapons smuggling operation, according to AFP.
Cheney, speaking in two different television interviews on Monday, declined to repeat his Sunday’s position that Washington had evidence Arafat was himself involved, but stated that he strongly suspected the Palestinian leader had been aware of the smuggling deal.
“We do know that people very close to Mr. Arafat, people high up in the Palestinian Authority, were, in fact, involved in this operation,” Cheney told CNN.
“So there's little doubt that this operation proceeded with the knowledge, if you will, and acquiescence of the senior people in the Palestinian Authority,” he replied when asked about Arafat's alleged involvement.
On NBC, Cheney would not discuss evidence directly implicating Arafat though he pointed out that Washington believed Arafat had to take responsibility for the Karine A, seized by Israel in the Red Sea on earlier this month.
“He clearly was involved or people very close to him were clearly involved in this shipment of 50 tons of weapons from Iran in conjunction with Hizbullah slated for Palestine and the West Bank,” he said.
When asked whether the US government believed Arafat was linked to the operation, Cheney said, “My own personal view is that it would not have happened without his knowledge, given the level of involvement of people very close to him and around him”.
Although Cheney was still critical of Arafat for not taking enough action to curb in on anti-Israel violence, his remarks were dramatically different from what he said over the weekend.
Appearing on ABC television on Sunday, Cheney became the first US official to publicly implicate Arafat himself in the operation. “We've just seen evidence that he was involved in this Karine A shipment,” Cheney declared.
“He has been implicated now in an operation that puts him working with a terrorist organization, Hizbullah, and Iran, a state that's devoted to torpedoing the peace process,” Cheney added.
When asked about Arafat's denial of his involvement in a letter to President George W. Bush, Cheney made clear, “We don't believe him.”
Ever since Israel announced the capture of the arms vessel, the Palestinian Authority has been denying any involvement in this smuggling attempt. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
