Jordan urged the Bush administration on Monday to help revive the stalled Middle East peace process as US Vice President Dick Cheney ended a regional tour.
Cheney headed home from the Red Sea resort of Aqaba after talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II, AFP reported. "We know there's a lot of challenges there," the king said of the peace process, asking Cheney to help move it out of its "stagnation."
We must "give hope a chance," he said during the one-hour meeting.
Asked whether settling the Middle East peace process was key to solving Iraq and Iran, Cheney told Fox News television: "I think we have to address all of the problems, and we don't have the luxury of ignoring any of them."
A palace statement said the king told Cheney that an Arab peace initiative endorsed in March represents "an opportunity to advance peace and end the Arab-Israeli conflict." "Time is not on anyone's side," said the king, calling for a "timeframe to establish tangible results on the ground."
A palace official told AFP the meeting with Cheney focused essentially on the situation in Iraq and reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
