Jordan's king, Abbas urge Israel to stop settlement activity

Jan 2, 2008, 19:26 GMT

Amman - King Abdullah II of Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged Israel to halt settlement activity as one of the hurdles hindering 'tangible progress' in the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

Abbas met with the monarch at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba on the heels of similar talks in Cairo with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to appraise the situation ahead of a Middle East tour by US President George W Bush.

King Abdullah 'stressed the need for Israel to halt all unilateral actions, foremost stopping settlement activity in all Palestinian lands that prevent the materialization of a suitable atmosphere conducive to success in present negotiations on final status issues,' a royal court statement said.

He pointed out that tangible progress in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians was necessary for the creation of an independent Palestinian state before the end of the year as declared at the November 27 Annapolis conference.

In remarks to reporters after the meeting, the Palestinian president said that he briefed King Abdullah on the outcome of his meetings so far with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and 'what we expect from the visit to the region by President Bush'.

'The most important thing that deters peace at this juncture is settlement,' Abbas said. 'We have received promises from the Israeli side that there will be no settlement operations,' he added.

The Palestinian president reiterated his call to the hard-line Hamas group for 'dialogue' in order to end the current Palestinian feuds.

'We did not put conditions, but we made it clear that their coup d'etat should be reversed in order to start dialogue and we hope that they have understood the message,' Abbas said, alluding to Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June.