Russian FM Arrives in Jordan to Continue Regional TourRussian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov arrived in Amman November 16 after talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza in a fresh bid to end the seven-week Israeli- Palestinian violence in the Palestinian territories.Ivanov, currently on a seven-day Middle East tour, is carrying a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to King Abdullah Bin Hussein, said an unnamed official at the Foreign Ministry. Ivanov will deliver the message, the content of which is not available at the moment, to his Jordanian counterpart Abdel Ilah al-Khatib during their talks on November 17, said the official. After meeting Arafat in Gaza, Ivanov called for an end to the bloody clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian protestors, which have claimed the lives of over 220 people, mostly Palestinians. He told a news conference that Russia is deeply concerned over the grave situation in the Palestinian territories, and urges the two sides to implement their cease-fire agreements immediately. At an emergency regional summit held in mid-October in Sharm el Sheikh of Egypt, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak agreed to take steps to end the violence, which has deadlocked the Middle East peace process. Russia, a co-sponsor of the Mideast peace process since the 1991 Madrid peace conference, is sending back its foreign minister to the region for the second time within a month in an effort to reassert its influence, which had drastically waned since the breakup of the former Soviet Union in 1991. Ivanov, who kicked off his regional tour from a visit to Iraq on Monday, will visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on Saturday. He has been to Egypt, the Palestinian territories and Israel. |
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