Abdullah called Rantissi killing “an ugly crime” by Israel

AMMAN, April 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In a move seen by analysts as unprecedented but necessary, Jordan’s King Abdullah II put off his meetings with U.S. top officials and decided to return home Tuesday, April 20, to contemplate Washington's position towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abdullah, who was visiting the United States, was due to meet President George Bush in the White House Wednesday, April 21, a week after the U.S. president endorsed a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip but keep parts of the West Bank.

"The meeting was postponed until discussions are completed with officials in the U.S. administration to clarify the American position concerning the (Middle East) peace process," a Royal Court official told the state-run Petra news agency.

Jordan wants to nail down Washington's views "on the final status in the Palestinian territories, particularly in light of the latest comments made by U.S. administration officials", he said.

Bush triggered Arab wrath by saying Palestinian refugees could not return to land lost in 1948 and then exchanged with Sharon letters cementing his position, in what is dubbed as a “Bushfour Promise”. 

The United Nations and the European Union immediately rebuked  the Bush’s policy shift, which completely ignored dozens of U.N. resolutions in that regard.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher will stay behind in Washington "to pursue discussions with U.S. administration officials and plan" for a new round of Jordanian-U.S. talks in early May, said the Jordanian official.

White House national security spokesman Sean McCormack said the monarch decided to curtail his visit "because of developments in the region".

Unprecedented

The Jordanian monarch move will sure please his people

Abdullah's surprise announcement was seen by analysts as an unprecedented but necessary move to protect Jordan's strategic ties with the U.S., which were jolted by Bush's remarks supporting Israel.

Last week Moashar insisted on the Palestinians' "right of return" and told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Jordan - home to 1.7 million Palestinian refugees - wants U.S. guarantees on the final status of the Palestinian territories and explanations on the refugee issue.

Postponing the meeting will not affect the strategic ties between Jordan and the United States but it says a lot," Jordanian former prime minister Taher al-Masri told AFP.

"It reflects publicly, clearly and perhaps for the first time, differences between the two countries," said Masri, who is now an Arab League commissioner for civil affairs.

Veteran Jordanian columnist Fahd al-Fanek said it was necessary to postpone the meeting between the two allies "to limit the damages".

"The postponement of the meeting is perhaps meant to protect the good relations between Jordan and the United States from deteriorating. A meeting at this time would not have been productive," he said.

That was also the view of Oreib al-Rintawi, director of Al-Quds research center, who hoped that Moasher's stay in Washington will iron out differences between Washington and Amman.

"Jordan wants any withdrawal from Gaza to be part of the roadmap while the American letter of guarantee to Israel makes Sharon's plan an alternative to the roadmap," he said.

"We are now facing tension in the relations with Washington but it will not reach the crisis level," Rintawi opined.

Before heading to the United States last week, King Abdullah sent Bush a letter insisting that the roadmap backed by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States is the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The blueprint – now virtually dead - calls for an independent Palestinian state side by side in peace with Israel by 2005.

"The letter also insisted that an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip must be part of the roadmap and not an alternative to it," the Jordanian court official said.

Tension between Amman and Washington was exacerbated following Israel's assassination of Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip Abdelaziz Rantissi Saturday.

The following day King Abdullah ordered Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez to cut short his visit to the U.S. and return home, after condemning the murder as "an ugly crime which proves Israel's arrogance and its lack of seriousness in working for peace".