Chirac Reaffirms Support to Jordanian-Egyptian Peace Plan for Middle East"The plan is a reasonable initiative that brings everything back to the same table and therefore back to reason," said Chirac after a 45-minute talk with the Jordanian King. The solidly-based plan should win international support, said Chirac. On his part, King Abdullah II called for the de-escalation of violence in the Middle East and reaffirmed the goal of the plan jointly put forward by his country and Egypt was to help resume dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians. Jordan and Egypt, the only Arab nations that have signed a peace treaty with Israel, have worked out a peace plan to end the seven-month conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. According to their plan, Israel should withdraw its troops from positions occupied after September 2000 when the conflicts first flared up, halt the building of Jewish settlements and resume security cooperation with the Palestinian National Authority. The peace plan has been endorsed by the United Nations, the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the United States, Japan, Russia and the Palestinians. Chirac had expressed his support to the plan last Friday after meeting with visiting Bahraini Emir Sheik Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa. |
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