Egypt, Jordan to draft joint resolution with Palestinians on statehood

GAZA [MENL] -- The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan will meet with Palestinian Authority representatives over the next few days to draft a joint position on Palestinian statehood.

PA officials said the agreement came during PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's meeting with Abdullah on Wednesday in Amman. They said Jordanian and PA representatives would discuss the details over the next few days. An Egyptian official would also participate in the talks.

The Palestinian aim is to obtain an agreement between Jordan, Egypt and the PA before Arafat meets U.S. President Bill Clinton on March 23 in the White House. The United States has expressed opposition to a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.

"The Palestinian state will be declared at the end of the interim self-rule," PA Cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdul Rahman said on Thursday. "There will be pressure but at this point there is no announcement to delay statehood in May. There is no alternative."

On Monday, Egypt said it would support PA efforts to declare a state on May 4, the expiration of interim self-rule according to the Israeli-Palestinian accords signed in 1993. Arafat said the Palestinian leadership has not decided whether to issue a declaration of statehood on May 4 or to succumb to appeals from Western nations that such a decision be delayed for another year.

Arafat held talks in London on Thursday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair officials as part of what PA officials said is a diplomatic effort to obtain recognition and support for a Palestinian state. Arafat will fly from London to Holland and Switzerland for more talks.

The officials said Arafat is asking for international guarantees that the West and the United States will support a Palestinian state if it is declared after May 4.

On Wednesday night, U.S. diplomats reiterated Washington's opposition to a unilateral declaration of statehood. "That's the advice we made publicly and that's what we'll continue to do," U.S. Ambassador to Israel Edward Walker told reporters at a briefing organized by the Israeli-Palestinian Media Forum in Jerusalem.

U.S. Consul General John Herbst, who often meets with Arafat, agreed. "Our position is that Oslo is based on mutuality," he told reporters. "The issue of May 4 should be based on agreement between the sides. Our position is clearly that we are against unilateral acts."

Both men said the United States would try to begin Israeli-Palestinian final status talks on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the May 17 Israeli elections.