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Arafat In Jordan To Discuss Palestine
by Tareq Ayyoub
AMMAN, Feb 13 (IslamOnline) - Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat on Tuesday started a two-day visit to Jordan to brief King Abdullah on developments in the Palestinian self-rule areas following a landslide victory by hard-line Israeli leader Ariel Sharon in the February 6 Israeli elections.
During his meeting with Arafat, Abdullah stressed that a comprehensive and just peace cannot be attained without the implementation of U.N. related resolutions concerning the region, and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The Jordanian News Agency, Petra, said that Abdullah, during the talks with Arafat, who arrived here from Tunisia, said that negotiations should resume between the Palestine National Authority and Israel from the point it reached during the talks in Taba, Egypt, in January.
Petra said that Abdullah and Arafat affirmed that the "continuation of the policy of violence [by Israel] and violations committed against Palestinian people will destroy the peace process and distract the stability and security of the region."
Sharon has repeatedly said that he will not give any concession on occupied Jerusalem, which he considers as the "unified capital" of Israel. Sharon also rejects the notion of any return of 3.5 million Palestinian refugees to their homelands, which they were forced to flee during the 1947 Arab-Israeli War.
Sharon's election has caused anxiety among some Arab states based on his previous record that has included the killing of thousands of Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese and Egyptians during his 40 years military service, culminating in the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla Massacre in Lebanon where a pro-Israeli Christian militia slaughtered at least 5,000 Palestinians.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said that Arafat could undergo a medical check-up during his short stay in the Jordanian capital.
Arafat's private doctor, Ashraf Kurdi, a neurologist, neither confirmed nor denied that he might examine the Palestinian leader, who usually combines medical visits with any business visits during trips to Amman. Kurdi has been supervising medical treatment for the Palestinian leader for the past few years.
"Arafat used to have medical check-ups when he visits Jordan, but until this moment, I was not asked to undertake such thing during this visit," Kurdi said.
Arafat, known for his tight schedule and continuous travel, has been treated in Jordan and elsewhere following a plane crash in the Libyan desert in the 1980s.
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