Jordan’s King Abdullah (right) with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Al Hummar Palace in Amman yesterday.
AMMAN: The Arab League endorsed the drive to relaunch Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations led by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said gaps between the sides had been greatly narrowed.
The encouraging rhetoric after Kerry met an Arab League delegation and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan yesterday suggested that Kerry, on his sixth such peace mission to the Middle East in as many months, might have found a path to ending an almost three-year deadlock.
The main sticking point has been Israel’s continued building of settlements on occupied land where Palestinians want to found a state. Israel approved new settlement yesterday.
Facing censure from Islamist Hamas rivals, the Western-backed Abbas has in the past looked for Arab League support before engaging in talks with the Jewish state. The 22-nation League also confirmed a recent compromise on its 11-year-old peace proposal to Israel; it said old borders could be redrawn.
The official Petra news agency in Jordan, where Kerry met Abbas for a second time in two days, quoted an Arab League statement issued after League officials also met Kerry there. The bloc affirmed “its support for Kerry’s great efforts to revive peace talks between the Palestinian and Israeli sides”.
The League delegation “expressed hope that this will lead to a launch of serious negotiations to address all final status issues to end the conflict and achieve a just and comprehensive peace between the Palestinians and Israelis which will bless the region with security, stability and prosperity”.
Abbas has given no public indication of his intentions. Aides said he would meet other PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) leaders in the West Bank city of Ramallah today ahead of deciding whether to resume talks with Israel.
The Palestinians were buoyed on Tuesday by EU plans to bar financial assistance to Israeli organisations operations in the occupied territories. REUTERS
