Jordan denies remarks attributed to King Abdullah by Israeli paper

Apr 21, 2007, 15:55 GMT

Amman - The Jordanian royal court on Saturday denied as 'utterly baseless' remarks attributed on Friday to King Abdullah II by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

'What some Israeli newspapers quoted the king to have said during his meeting on Thursday with the Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Dalia Itzik, is completely baseless,' said Amjad Adayleh, the head of the Media Department at the royal court.

The reported quotes had 'nothing to do with the connotations of the dialogue that took place during the encounter,' he added.

'The quotations carried by Haaretz represented a clear offence to Jordan and its leadership as well as a distortion of the sincere efforts the Kingdom has been leading in defence of the Palestinian people's rights,' the spokesman said.

Haaretz, quoting Israeli lawmakers, said King Abdullah had assured Itzik that the solution provided for in the Arab peace plan for the Palestinian refugee problem could take the form of paying only 'compensations' to the Palestinians who deserted their homes when Israel was founded in 1948.

The compensations could be paid by rich Arab countries, the Israeli paper further quoted the monarch as saying.

The remark as published by Haaretz drew criticism from Arab commentators and editorial writers. The ruling Palestinian Hamas group asked for clarification.

The Arab peace plan as explained by King Abdullah to Itzik 'underlines the importance of reaching a reconciliatory solution for the issue of Palestinian refugees by the two sides and rules out forging real peace without resolving the refugee issues in accordance with the international legitimacy solutions,' Adayleh said.

'The compensations option comes in the context of resolving the refugee problem, but cannot provide a solution by itself,' he added.

The Arab peace blueprint, which was readopted by the Arab summit in Riyadh at the end of March, provides for extending recognition to Israel by all Arab states after it quits all Arab areas it occupied in the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem, and finding a 'just solution' to the refugee problem.

The UN National Assembly resolution 194 of 1948 provided for the return of Palestinians who fled their homes that year and the compensation of those who opted not to return.

Haaretz also quoted King Abdullah as saying that Jordan and Israel were 'fighting the same enemy.'

The king's remarks had come in the context of warnings against growing extremism and its impact on the situation in the region, the royal court media chief said, adding, 'the failure to find a solution for the Palestinian question will double extremism and force all parties to pay the price, including Israel.'

Amman-based diplomats said the misquotation of the king by Israeli media could negatively affect the chances of King Abdullah responding to an invitation by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to visit Israel.

The royal court said Friday the monarch was 'ready to do anything that may advance the Arab peace plan,' adding the monarch had 'neither accepted nor refused the invitation.'