Posted on 04/20/2004 4:00:15 PM PDT by yonif
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell assured Europeans Tuesday that the Bush administration was determined to launch a Palestinian state and that any decision on Israeli population centers remaining on the West Bank would require Palestinian approval.
Still, Powell lined up with President George Bush's assurances last week to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that "the realities that exist in the area" should be taken into account in a peace accord.
Powell made the statements after a meeting with Javier Solana, the senior European Union's top foreign policy official.
The White House on Tuesday played down any hint of friction with Jordan after King Abdullah II postponed a Washington meeting with Bush.
"The king decided this week it was better for him to be in Jordan and we understand that," said National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack.
The meeting, which had been set for Wednesday, was postponed until the first week of May, both countries said.
According to a palace statement on Monday, the meeting was rescheduled "because of questions about the U.S. commitment to the Middle East peace process.
Government spokeswoman Asma Khader told The Associated Press Tuesday that Jordan wanted a White House meeting, but felt more time was needed to prepare for it because "there had been urgent developments since last week, when President Bush made remarks on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and that necessitated more consultations with the American administration, to have it clarify its positions on Mideast issues."
The palace statement said the meeting would not be held "until discussions and deliberations are concluded with officials in the American administration to clarify the American position on the peace process and the final situation in the Palestinian territories, especially in light of the latest statements by officials in the American administration."
The move comes amid Arab anger at Bush for endorsing a proposal by Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in exchange for U.S. concessions on keeping settlements on other land claimed by the Palestinians.
Bush also embraced Israeli rejection of any "right of return" for Palestinian refugees after a White House meeting last week with Sharon. Tensions also were inflamed by an Israeli helicopter strike that killed the Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
Abdullah has been touring the United States since last week, holding meetings in California with businesspeople and information technology experts and delivering lectures about Middle East issues. Officials said on condition of anonymity that the king was expected to return home Tuesday.
The palace statement added that Abdullah instructed Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher to remain in Washington to continue meetings and discussions with officials in the Bush administration and to prepare for the king's return to the United States in May.
The statement said the king had sent a letter to Bush on April 8 in which he stressed the Jordanian position regarding ways to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through implementing the road map.
In his letter, Abdullah said an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza must be part of the road map and not an alternative to it.
Despite the dramatic step of postponing a meeting with the president, the palace statement said: "Jordan sees that the contents of his majesty's letter to Bush comprises significant elements for the continuation of discussions between the American and Jordanian sides."
Abdullah is under pressure at home to demonstrate his U.S. ties can further Arab positions on the Israeli-Palestinian question as well as on the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Jordan is especially concerned that a final peace settlement would be at its expense if refugees were dumped into the kingdom, exhausting its meager resources and disturbing its demographic balance. Roughly half of Jordan's 5.1 million population is of Palestinian families who fled or were forced out of their homes in 1948 and 1967 Mideast wars.
Relations between the two countries were also close under Abdullah's late father, King Hussein, who was praised by former administration officials for signing Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel. America is Jordan's largest Western aid donor, with contributions estimated at US 456 million this year. The United States gave Jordan $1.1 billion last year to offset the kingdom's losses due to the war on Iraq.
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to Mars.
[translation]: That ain't gonna happen, or if it does, it will not go unpunished.
EVER!
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