Jordanian king to visit West Bank on Monday

Jordanian king to visit West Bank on Monday
 King Abdullah II of Jordan will pay a brief visit to the West Bank and meet with Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian official said Sunday.

A senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the king and the Palestinian leader will talk over a number of issues in the West Bank city of Ramallah, including the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process, Palestinians' bid for UN membership, and the reconciliation between Fatah with Hamas that took over the Gaza Strip in 2007.

King Abdullah II's visit comes a year after peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down, due to disputes over the Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.

The visit also comes ahead of a planned meeting between Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas, to push forward the implementation of an Egypt-brokered national reconciliation deal signed in May.

The Jordanian king is expected to express support to the Palestinian leadership in its request to establish a state on the lands that Israel occupied in 1967 and reject Israel's idea to make Jordan an alternative land for Palestinians.

Earlier Sunday, Abbas held a meeting with a Jordanian parliamentary delegation, during which he said "Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine for Palestinians," the official Wafa news agency reported.

English.news.cn   2011-11-21 11:31:20 FeedbackPrintRSS
RAMALLAH, Nov. 20 (Xinhua)