Jordan urges US to pressure Israel to halt Gaza attacks

Feb 5, 2008, 17:51 GMT

Amman - Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir conferred on Tuesday with US Special envoy for Middle East Security, General James Jones, urging Washington to pressure Israel to put an immediate stop to its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

'Israel has to stop its aggression and blockade of the Gaza Strip immediately and to realize that the launching of real negotiations to reach purported peace will not happen while it continues its aggression and blockade against the Palestinian people,' Bashir said.

'The United States and the world community should intensify their efforts to help the Palestinian and Israeli sides to achieve tangible progress in the final status talks and to honour their commitments under the agreement reached at the Annapolis conference,' he added.

Jones briefed Bashir on the efforts being made by the United States to 'achieve process in the Middle East process as a follow-up for President George W Bush's trip in the region' last month.

In a related development, Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday discussed on telephone latest developments in the Middle East with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The two 'stressed the need for intensifying efforts to establish peace and stability in the region', a royal court statement said.

At least seven militants from the Hamas group were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip earlier Tuesday. Israel said the attacks came in retaliation against ongoing launchings of rockets from the Gaza against southern Israeli territory.