Jordanian King Calls Mubarak on Mideast Peace ProcessEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak late Sunday received a phone call from Jordanian King Abdullah II on the latest developments in the Middle East peace process.During the phone conversation, the two leaders exchanged views on the worsening situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and the contacts underway among concerned parties for pushing forward the peace process, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported. Zohdi al Qedra, Palestinian ambassador to Cairo, said Sunday that Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah al-Khatib will visit Israel during the coming hours to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on halting Israeli violence against the Palestinians and resuming the stalled Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. The visit will be the first by an Arab official to Israel since the eruption of violence between Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers in late September. The envoy also said that Egypt and Jordan have raised a proposal on resuming Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the proposal which is "derived" from the Sharm el Sheikh truce accord. Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reached the ceasefire agreement at the Egyptian Red Sea resort last October, but both sides failed to take concrete measures to stop the violence and bring the peace process back to normal. Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries to sign peace treaty with Israel, have been playing mediating role in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. |
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