Jordanian King calls Sharon to pullout from West Bank
Jordan-Israel, Politics, 9/17/2005

The Jordanian King Abdullah II demanded the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the West bank as the next step after the Gaza withdrawal. This was expressed during Abdullah's meeting with Sharon in New York on the sideline of the UN world summit.

In statements quoted by the Jordanian news agency Petra, the Jordanian king stressed that the withdrawal operations should continue in implementation of the Roadmap peace plan, considering that this will be the only means to achieve the optimum peace.

He indicated the importance of continued confidence building measures between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, and the resumption of dialogue and bilateral negotiations on issues of final solution.

Abdullah said "we are all concerned, including Israel, to help the Palestinian national authority in its efforts to build establishments that are able to ensure better living conditions for the Palestinian people."

For his part, Sharon stressed that the question of preserving security constitutes a priority for Israel, noting "the need to make more efforts in order to ensure security and spread the full Palestinian authority on Gaza.

Worthy mentioning that the last meeting between King Abdullah II and Sharon took place on February 8th in the framework of the Quartet Sharm el-Sheikh summit where they agreed to the Israeli - Palestinian truce. In this context, one Jordanian official denied defining a date for the king's visit to Israel. The Jordanian King visited Sharon in secret in his farm in Negev, south of Israel in March 2004.