Egypt, Jordan to Discuss Peres’ Peace Bid Today
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Hussein will meet today in Amman to discuss Mideast peace prospects, official sources said Wednesday.
They said the Arab leaders will talk about Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ offer at the United Nations on Monday to end the state of war with Jordan and promptly begin talks.
They added that Egypt and Jordan have contacted Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and asked him to join the discussions. Arafat, who was in the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar on Wednesday, was quoted by Reuters as saying that he will meet Hussein soon.
Mubarak will also brief Hussein on recent talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead. Whitehead stopped in Cairo--and in Rome and Tunis--to repair diplomatic damage resulting from the U.S. interception of an Egyptian plane carrying the four hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro.
The Amman meeting today will be the first between Mubarak and Hussein since the Oct. 1 Israeli bombing of PLO headquarters in Tunis and the Oct. 7 ship hijacking.
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