Striding into the Palestinian Authority leader’s headquarters with Arafat after arriving by air, the king looked self-assured. It was not hard to envisage him following his father’s practice during recent years of balancing Jordan’s ties with Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
At the very least, the brief visit underscored Jordan’s determination to play an active role in regional peace diplomacy, during a period when its interests will be directly affected by the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian final-status talks.
For Arafat, the king’s visit marked an opportunity to line up wider backing in advance of the expected resumption of talks with Israel.
The two sides have agreed to work together to bring the peace process “back to its proper track, entailing full implementation of all agreements, including the Wye [accords] and the stoppage of all settlement [activity],” said the joint communiqué, read out to reporters by Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdullah Khatib.
“The two delegations agreed on Arab coordination and to support the Palestinian negotiators and to consider the Palestinian track as the heart of the peace process,” according to the statement. It also urged “coordination” with Egypt, but the only mention of Syria came in a call for the resumption of Syrian-Israeli and Lebanese-Israeli negotiations.