Jordan, an active and enthusiastic mediator in the Middle East, has been stepping up its efforts in the year of 2007, trying to propel the regional peace, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli talks.
ACTIVE MEDIATOR IN PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Jordan is one of the two Arab countries which signed peace treaty with Israel and also home to some 1.6 million Palestinians who are living in 13 refugee camps.
Maintaining close ties with both Israel and the Palestinians, Jordan has played an active role in the Middle East peace process in recent years.
The year of 2007 witnessed Jordan's increasing endeavor in solving long-standing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Arab leaders decided to revive an Arab peace initiative in the 19th Arab summit held in Saudi capital Riyadh in late March, which was described by Jordan's King Abdullah II as "a historic opportunity" to achieve Middle East peace and end decades of conflict between Arabs and Israelis.
The Arab Peace Initiative, first approved in 2002, offers to extend recognition to Israel by all Arab countries provided that it withdraws from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 war.
To cherish such a "historic opportunity", Abdullah and then Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib urged Israel to "reach out to the Arab hand that has been extended in peace."
On April 13, the king sent official invitation for Israel's Knesset (parliament) Speaker Dalia Yitzik and a number of peace supporters to visit Jordan for talks on Arab Peace Initiative.
However, Israel did not show enthusiastic reaction to the initiative. In May, Israel even declared plans to build more than 20,000 residential units in two newly-built districts in East Jerusalem, which "provoked sentiments of Muslims across the globe."
Responding to Israel's action, Abdullah invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the third Nobel Prize Laureates conference held in Jordan's ancient city of Petra.
During talks with Olmert, the Jordanian king called for a stop of all escalation measures in the Palestinian territories.
"Any plans for building or expanding settlements in the Palestinian areas and the continuation of escalation steps against the Palestinians run counter to the desire in making peace," said Abdullah.
Despite Jordan's efforts to nudge Israel to the negotiating table, the rival Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas, for their parts, have been fighting with each other in the Gaza Strip since early May.
The violence ended up with Hamas takeover of Gaza in mid-June, politically splitting the geographically divided Palestinian territories into two parts.
STAUNCH SUPPORTER OF U.S.-SPONSORED ANNAPOLIS CONFERENCE
Facing the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories, Jordan has never stopped urging the Palestinians and Israelis to sit down at the negotiating table to seriously exploit "the last chance for peace in the region" -- U.S.-sponsored international conference on Middle East peace.
The one-day Annapolis conference was held on Nov. 27 in the United States and attended by representatives of more than 40 countries, regions and international organizations.
It was the largest gathering of the global community to discuss Middle East peace since the Madrid conference 16 years ago and the first formal peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in seven years.
Shortly after U.S. President George W. Bush proposed in July to hold the conference, Abdullah and Jordanian officials positively responded to Bush's proposal by embarking on shuttle diplomacy to group more attendants.
On the one hand, the king met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert separately for several times, urging them to continue talking about the "key and essential fundamental issues" that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
On the other hand, Abdullah visited European countries, the United states and China to call for intensified international efforts to push forward the peace process and to "help concerned parties to regain confidence with a view to pave the way and reach the just and everlasting comprehensive peace."
On Nov. 18, Abdullah even made a rare trip to Syria, his first in nearly four years, to try to persuade Damascus to attend the Annapolis meeting.
Meanwhile, he shuttled back and forth in the Middle East region, trying to clarify a unified Arab stand supporting Palestinians and to boost Arab solidarity ahead of the peace conference.
As a bridge between the West and Middle East, Jordan has exerted great effort on helping coordinate all concerned parts' stand and urged them to grasp the "last chance" for peace.
U.S. President George W. Bush said after the eye-catching Annapolis meeting that Middle East peace was "possible" and promised Abbas and Olmert his full support in forging it.
Jordan, which commented the conference as an "important and serious" start toward ending Israeli occupation and establishing a Palestinian state, has started a new round of mediation efforts to bring Palestinian and Israeli negotiators closer and to push Middle East peace process forward.
Source: Xinhua
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