Jordan\'s King Abdullah proposes resuming talks with Israel

Jordan and Palestine are wary of the rise of political Islam Jordan\'s King Abdullah II proposed a European initiative to resume talks with Israel on his visit to Ramallah on Monday.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received the proposal which called for \"the resumption of negotiations on the basis of the Quartet statement issued last September, without the Palestinian insistence on the freeze of settlement. This is in exchange for a promise by the European Union, including France and Britain, to support the application for U.N. membership of the State of Palestine within the 1967 territories in September 2012 if negotiations with Israel fail over the next year.\"
The European initiative states that the settlement issue will be resolved through negotiations on the core issues of borders and security. The resumption of negotiations will be conducted under the auspices of the Quartet which will supervise and participate in some issues.  
Sources said that Abdullah and Abbas discussed how to strengthen the Palestinian position through Hamas\'s participation in Palestinian decision-making and strengthening bilateral relations between Jordan and Israel.
Abbas said in a statement after the meeting: \"If Israel stops settlement activity and recognises international authorities, we are ready to return to negotiations. These are not preconditions, but commitments and agreements between us and the Israelis.\"
But he pointed out that there are no indicators of the imminent resumption of negotiations.
King Abdullah paid a rare visit to President Abbas in efforts to reconcile with Palestinian group Hamas and take defensive action against the rise of political Islam.
After getting clearance from Israel, which controls the airspace over the West Bank, the Jordanian monarch landed late Monday morning at Mr. Abbas\'s headquarters in Ramallah for the first time in more than a decade.
The two U.S.-allied leaders are faced with a defunct peace process with Israel and expectations of a strong showing for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egyptian elections scheduled to begin next week, following the recent election success of Tunisia\'s Islamists. Mr. Abbas, meanwhile, has lost some political traction after his bid to get the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state stalled this month.
Analysts have said the reconciliation with Hamas came as a bid to gain broader political support and contain the group, which is the Palestinian affiliate of the Brotherhood.
\"Growing success for the Brotherhood will isolate the secular movements in the region—including Jordan and Palestine,\" said Imad Musleh, a political columnist for the Al Quds newspaper in Jerusalem. \"That is why these two men are sitting together today.\"
U.S.-allied Arab countries such as Jordan and Egypt have largely shunned Hamas. Jordan expelled Hamas officials in 1999, and later initiated a crackdown against the group.
Abbas last week said that he would make a new push for implementing a unity accord with Hamas from May. The accord would set up an interim joint rule and elections next year for the Palestinian parliament and president.
Hamas\'s Syria-based leader Khaled Meshaal is scheduled to meet with Abbas, the leader of the secular Fatah party, at the end of the week in Cairo to discuss a plan to end a four-year feud.
The surprise visit by King Abdullah was seen here as an indication that the reconciliation efforts are serious.
Meshaal is expected to follow his meeting with Mr. Abbas with a visit with King Abdullah in Jordan, and discuss the possibility of allowing Hamas to operate openly there for the first time since the 1990s. Meshaal is under some pressure in Syria, where antigovernment unrest could force his group to relocate. Hamas is also believed to be looking into opening an office in Egypt.
Though King Abdullah has fared much better than other Arab heads of state, he has been facing unrest over the country\'s economy as well as rising calls for reforms from Muslim Brotherhood affiliates. At the same time, Jordan is grappling with growing instability in Syria, with which it shares a border.
King Abdullah also has an interest in making sure Abbas\'s reconciliation with Hamas doesn\'t come at Jordan\'s expense.
\"The King wants to know how Abbas will be dealing with reconciliation, and what it will mean,\" said Issam Abu Baker, an official in the foreign-affairs department of Mr. Abbas\'s Fatah party. \"Islamists in Jordan suddenly pose an even greater challenge to the king after their success in Tunisia and amid expected success in Egypt,\" he said.
Abdullah and Abbas disagree regarding the stalled peace talks, Palestinian observers said. While Abbas refuses to resume talks with Israel without a settlement freeze, Jordan doesn\'t believe that Israeli building in the West Bank should be an obstacle to talks.
The United Nations\'s envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry told the Security Council on Monday that the Palestinian Authority was in danger of collapsing if there is no progress in peace talks. He called on Israel to unfreeze tax revenue withheld from the Palestinians, saying withholding it puts progress toward reform and state-building at risk.