UK: US Secretary of State Rice meets with Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss Mideast peace

Record ID: 784919

  • Title: UK: US Secretary of State Rice meets with Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss Mideast peace
  • Date: 19th October 2007
  • Summary: (EU) LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER18, 2007) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) VARIOUS OF JORDAN'S KING ABDULLAH MEETING WITH US SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8XYORCFO0Y03MAJG116PUS4OF
  • Story Text: Jordan's King Abdullah II meets U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the likelihood of reinvigorating the stalled Arab-Israeli peace process.
    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met King Abdullah II of Jordan for a private lunch in London on Thursday (October 18, 2007) at the end of a nine-day tour that has also taken her to Moscow, Jerusalem and Cairo.
    The two are expected to discuss the international meeting, which the U U.S. is mooting in November to launch formal peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.
    Rice is expected to ask the King to express his support for the conference, the most dramatic effort by the United States to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace since the collapse of the Camp David talks in 2000.
    The United States hopes formal peace talks can begin after the event, expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in November or December.
    Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams have been formed to draft a joint document to be presented at the meeting but the two sides still appear to be far apart on its content.
    The Palestinians have called for it to address in some detail the core issues that divide them including borders, Jerusalem and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees, and they would like a timetable for the peace negotiations.
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has urged a broad-brush approach and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has said creating too high expectations could lead to violence, as was the case in late 2000 when the Camp David peace talks collapsed.
    On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not attend the Annapolis meeting at any cost and one of his top aides accused the Israeli team of not being serious enough about the talks.
    According to a senior State Department official, the U.S. will keep up the pressure on all parties ahead of that meeting.
    National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley is to visit Jerusalem next week to try to bring the two sides closer together, and Rice herself will be back in the region at the end of the month for a meeting of Iraq's neighbours in Istanbul.
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