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Jordan's King Abdullah II welcomed as a positive step a call by US President George W. Bush for a new international conference to revive Middle East peace talks, a palace statement said yesterday.
It said the king described Bush's invitation to convene an international peace conference "as a positive step on the right path" towards achieving peace in the region, the statement said.
The Jordanian monarch expressed his views in a telephone call from Bush during which he also said that an international conference "opens the path towards achieving real and tangible progress" in the peace process, it said.
It contains positive elements - Egypt
Egypt said yesterday that a call by US President George W. Bush for an international conference to revive Middle East peace talks contains "positive elements" but needs further "development."
"The US proposal contains positive elements which we must hold on to, and build upon and develop," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gaith said in a statement. Abul Gaith welcomed US efforts to rekindle Mideast peacemaking and bring closer the establishment of a Palestinian state.
He stressed that a Palestinian state would be achieved not only through "the end of the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories, but also with the removal of settlements built on Palestinian land."
Bush telephoned Arab allies including Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday after announcing plans for the conference to be chaired by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later this year.
He urged them to support Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas as he works with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to make progress toward the realisation of the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine," the White House said.
EU welcomes renewed US commitment
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed yesterday the renewed commitment of the United States to try to bring peace to the Middle East, including a proposal for an international conference.
"I welcome the address by President [George W.] Bush in which he stated the renewed commitment of the United States to a negotiated settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the basis of a two-state solution as the only way forward," Solana said. "The international meeting proposed by President Bush will give substantial support to the parties in their negotiations towards a permanent settlement," he said in a statement a few hours before heading to the Middle East.
Bashar hopes proposal is serious
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad said yesterday he hoped US President George W. Bush's proposal of an international Middle East peace conference was a serious one, saying he was ready for peace talks with Israel but only in the presence of an "honest broker".
"I read this morning that the American president spoke of his wish to work for a peace conference. I hope ... this is true but to this moment these are just words as far as we are concerned," Bashr said in a speech after being sworn in for a second, seven-year term in office.
Bashar said he has received mediators sent by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert carrying messages from the Israeli premier expressing his interest in the resumption of peace talks.
He called on Olmert to openly announce his commitment to peace.
"What is required from Israeli officials is a clear and official announcement that they want peace. But to say we will not have peace talks with Syria and then send us secret messages, this is not acceptable," he said.
He also said Syria wants "certain guarantees" from Israel. When these becomes available, there can be channels with Israel through a third party, he said. After that, there can be "direct, open negotiations in the presence of an honest broker."
A crusade against Palestinians - Hamas
In Gaza, Hamas rejected the Bush proposal, calling it a 'crusade' against the Palestinian people.
Isolated in Gaza, and facing a crackdown in the West Bank, it remains unclear how or whether Hamas would try to undermine the conference.
Yehiya Mousa, a Hamas lawmaker, said he didn't trust the Americans to be fair brokers in the region and treated the Arab world "as if they were private kingdoms for their puppet dictators."
"We don't accept Bush's flagrant interference in the Palestinian internal affairs with the aim to drive a wedge among the Palestinian people," he said.
A Hamas spokesman, Esmail Radwan, said in Gaza:"The conference will lead to increased pressure on Mahmoud Abbas and separate the Gaza Strip more deeply from the West Bank while sowing division among Palestinians."
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