Jordan's king meets Miliband, urges EU pressure on Israel

Nov 3, 2009, 16:00 GMT

Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II conferred Tuesday with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, urging the international community to pressure Israel to stop its 'unilateral actions' in East Jerusalem, a royal court statement said.

'The monarch underlined the importance of the European Union's role, particularly that of Britain, in efforts aimed at ensuring the setting up of an independent Palestinian state, which is a prerequisite for Middle East peace,' it said said.

King Abdullah warned against 'the dangers inherent in the Israeli unilateral actions, especially the construction of settlements and other measures that threaten the identity of Jerusalem and holy places there, and called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt such steps,' it added.

The talks dealt with ways to overcome obstacles hindering the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the statement said in a reference to Israel's rejection of a settlement construction freeze.

Amman was the centre of a new round of diplomacy over the past 48 hours that involved meetings between US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and King Abdullah as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas told Mitchell on Monday that the Palestinian Authority still insisted on Israel's freeze of settlement building as a prerequisite for resuming peace talks, according to Saeb Erekat, head of the Palestinian Negotiation Department.

Abdullah expressed backing for the Palestinian Authority's attitude during a meeting with Abbas in Amman on Monday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday talked on telephone with King Abdullah, apparently to ask Amman's support for its endeavours to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians even before a freeze of settlement construction.