Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday told visiting US Senator Arlen Specter that Washington has a "crucial" role to play in securing comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
"The Jordanian monarch insisted on the crucial role of the United States in the search for a just solution to the conflict in the Middle East," a palace official reported following the meeting.
Specter met Abdullah at the royal palace in the Red Sea coastal resort of Aqaba a day after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.
The meeting coincided with the arrival in Washington of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for talks with US President Bill Clinton on US peace proposals.
Arafat has asked for clarifications on 25 points of Clinton's plan for peace with Israel and wants replies before deciding whether to accept the proposals, Egypt's ambassador to Israel Mohamed Bassiouni said Tuesday.
"These clarifications will be at the center of the talks between Mr Arafat and Mr Clinton" scheduled for later Tuesday in Washington, he added without giving details.
Bassiouni said a peace accord was still possible before Clinton leaves office on January 20. His view contradicted that of Barak, who said earlier Tuesday it was unlikely.
Abdullah meanwhile insisted that peace depended on whether the Palestinian people can "recover all their legitimate rights, including the right to set up an independent state."
He also told Specter that peace depended on an Israeli pullout from Syrian territory seized during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Specter, a republican senator from Pennsylvania, is the chairman of the Senate veteran affairs committee and a senior member of the appropriations committee, the judiciary committee and the government affairs committee -- AQABA, Jordan (AFP)
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