JORDAN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Jordan's King Abdullah discuss Mideast peace moves at start of Merkel's trip to Middle East

At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Jordan on Saturday (March 31), King Abdullah of Jordan said he hoped the crisis between Britain and Iran over the capture of 15 British naval personnel by Iran on March 23 would be resolved quickly. Iran seized the sailors and marines in the northern Gulf when they were on a U.N.-backed mission searching for smugglers. Tehran says they strayed into Iranian waters but Britain insists they were well in Iraqi territory. The EU voiced full support for the plan revived at an Arab summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week offering Israel peace and relations in exchange for complete withdrawal from Arab land occupied in 1967 and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. King Abdullah urged Iran to support a Palestinian - Israeli peace process that would allow the Middle East to move forward. He pointed out that Iranians had attended the Arab summit in Riyadh and said he expected Iran to support moves to bring about peace between Israel and Palestinians because such moves "pave a way of hope to all of us." Merkel praised the five-year-old initiative, and King Abdullah said moderate Arabs sought Germany's support as holder of the rotating EU presidency for the peace plan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is currently president of the European Union (EU), said the entire European Union supported "those forces whose criteria it is to move forward a peace process" in the Middle East. Western nations are waiting to see what policies the Palestinian unity government, which includes secular Fatah and Islamist Hamas factions, pursues before deciding on what sort of relationship to have with it and whether to resume aid suspended last year after Hamas won at the polls. Merkel said EU financial aid to improve the lives of those people living in the Palestinian territories should be aimed "specifically at those forces which make efforts to enter into a peace process with Israel and which give up the use of violence in the conflict." During her trip, Merkel, holder of the EU's rotating presidency, also wants to make an assessment of the political situation in the Middle East. She said: "During this trip I want to get a picture of what the situation is like, what difficulties remain, what steps can be undertaken next." Merkel said it was necessary to fulfil the conditions set by the "Quartet" of Middle East peace negotiators -- the recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence and acceptance of existing peace accords. "We believe that naturally the overall aim of a two-nation state of Israel and the Palestinian Territories is very important and we don't want to lose sight of this objective although we know that many, many small steps have to be taken to achieve this and it would be good if all politicians could accept the necessary criteria for this to happen," Merkel said. EU foreign ministers agreed on Saturday to engage with non-Hamas members of the unity government. As EU president, Germany represents the 27-member bloc in the Quartet, which also includes the United States, EU, Russia and United Nations. Later Merkel was scheduled to fly to Israel for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior politicians. Then she was scheduled to visit Lebanon, meeting Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and dropping in on a German frigate which is part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission there.

ITN Source | April 1, 2007

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