AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks on Thursday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas two days after Israeli leaders made a clandestine visit to the kingdom, a senior Jordanian official said.
The king and Abbas, who met at the kingdom's southern Red Sea resort of Aqaba, discussed "means of pushing ahead with peace negotiations with Israel on the basis of a two-state solution," the palace said.
Israeli public radio reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak made a secret visit to Jordan on Tuesday and met the king. The palace declined to comment on these talks.
A senior government official told AFP in Amman that the king told Olmert and Barak about "the need to stop all unilateral measures in the West Bank and in Gaza."
The king also told the Israeli leaders "not to launch military operations because such measures will prevent the achievement of peace," the official said, on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli radio report, citing a senior Israeli official, said that during Tuesday's meeting the Jordanian monarch urged the Israeli leaders to refrain from launching a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip.
The radio said the king took the initiative to seek to avoid a confrontation that might also cause trouble in his country, home to many Palestinians.
Israel "cannot enjoy peace... unless the Palestinians obtain security and their own state," the king reportedly told the Israeli leaders.
"King Abdullah II asked Olmert to deal seriously with the Palestinians in the negotiations in order to achieve a two-state solution," he added.
Olmert's press secretary declined to comment on the report when contacted by AFP in Jerusalem.
The King told Abbas that "achieving peace with the Palestinians will pave the way for a comprehensive regional peace," a palace statement said.
"Imposing more restraints on the Palestinians and increasing their suffering will create more tension."
The two leaders agreed that "Palestinian-Israeli peace talks should continue and Israel should take immediate measures to end the suffering of the Palestinians," the statement added.
Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas took power there violently in June 2007. Control was tightened on November 5 with all crossings closed following a resurgence of violence and Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel.
At least 1,000 people demonstrated in Amman on Wednesday against the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
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