Jordan's Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Khatib travelled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for talks on the Middle East crisis and the upcoming Arab summit, reported (AFP)
"I will hold talks with my Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al-Faisal, on the tension in the Middle East as part of the consultations between our two countries," Khatib told AFP before leaving on the previously unannounced visit.
Their talks would also cover "the aggressions against the Palestinian people and Israeli threats against Syria and Lebanon" following the capture of three Israeli soldiers by Lebanese guerrillas backed by Beirut and Damascus.
Khatib, whose country has a 1994 peace treaty with Israel, stressed the need "to close Arab ranks at this delicate period", in reference to the Arab summit called for October 21-22 in Cairo.
Jordan has two aims for the summit: to reach a "unified stand in support of the Palestinian cause" and to "close the Iraqi file", the minister said, quoted earlier in local newspapers.
Khatib visited Damascus on Monday to deliver a message to President Bashar al-Assad from Jordan's King Abdullah II on efforts to ease tension in the Middle East since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian clashes on September 28.
A total of 100 people have been killed in the clashes, almost all Arabs, crippling the peace process – (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
