HUNDREDS PROTEST AGAINST PEACE TALKS IN JORDAN
Around 500 people of Jordanians on protested against peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians on Friday, witnesses said.
They gathered in Amman holding signs reading “Zionist occupation is a threat to us” and “The dignity of Jordan is the dignity of Palestine,” Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
US Secretary of State was also singled out for criticism, with protesters calling for a halt to his peace initiative.
Demonstrators were prevented from marching to the Hashemite square by security forces, and had to hold a sit-in near the grand Husseini mosque.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Jordan Wednesday in a fresh bid to keep his Middle East peace bid on track, amid fears Israel may renege on a vow to free Palestinian prisoners.
Kerry, interrupting a visit to Rome, was due to meet first with Jordan’s King Abdullah II before holding talks with President Mahmoud Abbas over dinner in a bid to “continue to narrow the gaps” between the two sides, his spokeswoman said.
Under a July deal for the relaunch of the talks, Israel said it would release 104 Palestinians held since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords in exchange for the PLO not pressing their statehood claims via the UN.
Israel has so far freed 78 prisoners and is due to release the fourth and final tranche on March 29, but there are growing fears Netanyahu’s cabinet may refuse to approve the move.
Palestinian leaders are threatening to renew their diplomatic push at the United Nations if the prisoners are not freed as scheduled this weekend.
Kerry’s meeting with Abbas comes only 10 days after the Abbas was welcomed at the White House by US President Barack Obama for talks which Palestinians officials later admitted had been difficult.
Kerry, who coaxed the two sides back to the negotiations last July after a three-year freeze, is seeking to keep up the pressure to reach an agreed framework to guide the talks going forward as an April 29 deadline for a deal looms.
Despite months of meetings between Kerry and Israeli and Palestinian leaders both in the region and in cities around the world, the two sides have remained deeply divided.
Abbas has so far held off on efforts to use the UN’s November 2012 recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer to press for membership in international bodies where it could fight Israeli occupation.
But Palestinians are warning they may drop that pledge if Israel breaks its side of the deal by not freeing the prisoners. (T/P04/E01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
