Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal is expected in Amman on Wednesday for talks with King Abdullah on the Middle East crisis.
"During his brief visit to Amman Wednesday, Prince Faisal will have talks with King Abdullah II on the worsening of the situation in the region because of continued Israeli aggression against the Palestinians," a Saudi embassy official told AFP in Amman.
On Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad received Faisal for talks on the Middle East crisis, the official SANA news agency reported.
The talks centered on "the continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and ongoing efforts to re-establish Arab solidarity," it said.
SANA added that Assad had given Prince Faisal a written response to a message he had delivered from Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.
The prince later left for Beirut, where he was scheduled to hold talks with Lebanese officials on Wednesday before going on to Jordan.
He was due to meet with President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, said AFP.
Earlier, he denied that his trip was aimed at paving the way for an Arab mini-summit on the ongoing violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
"The situation as it is needs inter-Arab coordination (but) there are Arab summits held regularly," he told reporters.
Saudi newspapers reported Tuesday that Riyadh was trying to organize a meeting between US President George W. Bush and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in a bid to end nearly a year of bloodshed that has claimed more than 760 lives, the overwhelming majority of them Palestinian civilians, said the agency.
They said the push for Bush-Arafat talks was at the heart of the prince's tour, which included talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier Tuesday.
In Amman, King Abdullah and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called for the implementation of the Mitchell report recommendations and urged the international community to salvage the crumbling peace process, an official source told the Jordan Times.
"The king and Solana underlined the need for the implementation of the Mitchel report, which constitutes an active and practical way to contain the crisis," in the occupied Palestinian territories, the source added.
King Abdullah told the EU envoy that political negotiations remained "the only path for restoring calm," in the Palestinian territories, which are embroiled in an 11-month-old Intifada against Israeli occupation and aggression.
He cautioned that "violence breeds violence and threatens the interests of all concerned parties."
Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab states bound by peace treaties with Israel, have been criticizing the Jewish state for its excessive use of military force against the Palestinians.
King Abdullah held talks early this week with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Alexandria, and both leaders met separately with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - the king in Amman on Monday, and Mubarak in Cairo on Tuesday.
The Mitchell report is named after former US senator George Mitchell, who headed an international commission of the spiraling violence in the Occupied Territories.
The committee's recommendations provided for defusing tension, restoring confidence-building measures and resuming political dialogue.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has insisted, however, on complete calm before Israel returns to the negotiating table.
The official cited the king as telling Solana that security and stability in the region could only "be guaranteed through a comprehensive, just and durable peace based on international legitimacy."
In remarks to the press before his departure to Cairo, Solana said Palestinians and Israelis had made progress during a crucial encounter to pave the way for a meeting between Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
"I think that we are making some headway," said the UN official.
Solana said he briefed King Abdullah on Monday's meeting between Palestinian officials Ahmed Qorei and Saeb Erekat, and Peres, which took place in his presence at an undisclosed location in Jerusalem.
Erekat, the top Palestinian negotiator, earlier told reporters in Gaza that the meeting was aimed "at preparing a meeting between Peres and Arafat."
"Both (sides) have said very clearly that they are ready to meet and that it would be useful. But a meeting of that nature must be prepared and this is what they are trying to do," Solana said.
"I think that at the beginning of next week you will have more information about it," he added. "We have to wait until the beginning of next week to know if everything has matured for the meeting to take place."
Solana was due to meet the Egyptian president on Wednesday at the northern coastal city of Alexandria and then fly on to EU headquarters in Brussels.
"We will continue to facilitate" the situation, Solana said.
The EU's Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos said he would return to the region over the weekend for "ongoing consultations" and to pursue the European efforts – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
