Sharon Calls for Joint Peace Efforts in Middle East

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 01, 2002

Sharon Calls for Joint Peace Efforts in Middle East

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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday called on the Arabs to make joint efforts to realize peace in the Middle East, saying his country is committed to the peace vision of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Jordanian King Hussein.

Sharon made the remarks at a ceremony held at the Israeli- Jordanian Arava Border Crossing near the southern Israeli Red Sea city Eilat to rename the crossing after Rabin, who was assassinated in November, 1995 by an extremist Jewish youth for his peace moves with Arabs.

"From now on, this passage will be named after the late Yitzhak Rabin. It is my hope that it will constitute a monument to his efforts for the security of the State of Israel and our unrelenting pursuit of peace, and will serve as a reminder to us all to continue to seek these goals," said Sharon.

The border crossing was opened two months before the formal signing of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty in 1994. It was Israel's second peace treaty with Arab states, following the peace treaty with Egypt in 1979.

"I take this opportunity, in which we are symbolically renewing our commitment to peace and to the vision of Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein, to turn to our neighbors, the leaders of Arab countries: Let us walk together in the path of the vision and legacy of both leaders who forged the model for relations between our peoples, here in the Arava," said Sharon in his speech.

Jordanian Prince Raad Bin Zaid, who also attended the ceremony, called on the Israeli people to recognize the Palestinian people and to allow them to realize their aspirations for independence.

The prince also urged Sharon to accept the peace initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz, which proposes that Israel withdraws to the pre-1967 War borders in exchange for the normalization of relations with Arab countries.

Also present at the renaming ceremony were several Israeli ministers, including Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer.

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