Jordan king holds talks in Ramallah with Abbas Monday, 21 November 2011 13:44

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories:  Jordan's King Abdullah II was on Monday holding talks in Ramallah with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on his first visit to the West Bank in more than a decade.

 

The rare visit came just days ahead of a key summit between the rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas, who are looking to cement a stalled unity deal that has drawn fierce opposition from Israel and Washington.

 

It was the first time the Jordanian monarch has visited the West Bank's political capital since before Abbas took over as president in January 2005, and comes just days before the Palestinian leader heads to Cairo to meet exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal.

 

After his royal helicopter touched down inside the Muqataa presidential compound, Abdullah was greeted by senior members of the Palestinian leadership, including prime minister Salam Fayyad, as well as security and religious officials.

 

It was the first time Abdullah has travelled to Ramallah since August 2000, but officials have said little about the reasons behind the high-level visit, details of which only emerged late on Sunday.

 

"The king's visit and meeting with president Abbas at this time is very important," Abbas adviser Nimr Hammad told AFP.

 

"They will discuss all the political developments between us and the international community in order reach a common Palestinian-Jordanian understanding on the issues."

 

After the talks, Abdullah and Abbas were to hold a joint news conference at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT).

 

Jordanian state news agency Petra said the visit was part of Amman's efforts "to achieve peace and the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders."

 

Talks were expected to touch on the Palestinian bid to secure full state membership at the United Nations, and on the upcoming Hamas-Fatah meeting in Cairo -- both of which have met with strong opposition from Israel and the United States.

 

Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, has made little secret of its support for the Palestinians' UN bid and the king has expressed frustration over the repeated failure to advance the peace process.

 

Speaking to AFP late on Sunday, a senior Palestinian official said the timing of the visit was an important show of support for Abbas who is under increasing pressure to drop the UN bid and scrap attempts to reconcile with Hamas.

 

"We consider this visit an important part of King Abdullah's support for president Abbas on the direction of Palestinian policy as well as for the Palestinian people, particularly under the current circumstances," he said.

 

Abdullah paid his first visit to the Palestinian territories in May 1999 just months after being crowned king, meeting the late leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza. A year later, in August 2000, he met Arafat again, this time in Ramallah.

 

But he has not been back since then, with a planned visit in May 2007 cancelled at the last minute over bad weather.

 

Under terms of their unity deal, Fatah and Hamas were to piece together an interim government of politically unaffiliated technocrats who would prepare for presidential and legislative elections within a year.

 

But the caretaker government was never formed, with the two sides bickering over its composition and over who would take up the role of premier.

 

However, after a series of secret talks in Cairo, the two sides appear to have reached some form of agreement, Palestinian officials say, which is likely to be made public after they meet in the Egyptian capital later this week.

 

A senior Israeli official, who said they were not informed of Abdullah's plans, said the visit was unusual because it was taking place in the West Bank.

 

"What is more surprising is that such meetings in Ramallah are so rare. We have repeatedly called in the past for Arab leaders to travel to Ramallah in order to strengthen the peace process. Unfortunately, almost none of them have come," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. (AFP)