Netanyahu meets with King Abdullah ahead of Arab League meeting

Abbas continues to resist the idea of direct negotiations

By ICEJ News

28 Jul 2010

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an unannounced meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday, just two days before a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo which will give a recommendation on whether or not the Palestinian Authority should move to direct talks with Israel over the future of the West Bank and other issues. Netanyahu was apparently hoping to secure Abdullah’s support for such talks after the King met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday.

According to press statements released by both governments the two hour talks were very serious and constructive, with Netanyahu adding that Abdullah’s leadership was important to further peace and stability in the region and that he intended to strengthen ties between the two countries. The Israeli statement also included details that the talks had focused on the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, the Iranian threat, and bilateral economic issues.

The meeting was the first since Abdullah told the Wall Street Journal in April that “for the first time since my father made peace with Israel, our relationship with Israel is at an all bottom low. It hasn’t been as bad as it is today and as tense as it is today.”

The meetings Abduallah hosted with Abbas and Netanyahu come even as shock waves continue to reverberate in the region over an internal PA memo leaked to the Associated Press and released Monday which urged Abbas not to give in to intense American pressure to agree to direct talks without preconditions. The memo included an Obama Administration admission to Abbas that unless he did agree to direct talks there’s not much the President can do to help create a Palestinian State.

“Going to direct talks while the Israeli government refuses to stop settlement activities and refuses to continue talks where they left off in December 2008 would be like political suicide,” the memo said.

Meanwhile, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos lent his support to the idea of direct negotiations in a joint press conference with Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman during a visit to Jerusalem on Wednesday.

"It is true that if you want peace, if you want a final settlement, you have to meet directly. I think it is the best way to go forward," Moratinos said, adding his hope that Netanyahu and Abbas can meet "urgently, directly, and without preconditions," and that this opinion reflected the position of the international community.

There is speculation that Abbas would like to resist the pressure to enter into direct talks until the 10 month moratorium on building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank is concluded at the end of September, in an attempt to increase pressure on Netanyahu from the international community. But Lieberman declared plainly that Israel would begin building again immediately after the moratorium expires.

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