Jordan king visits Ramallah after UN vote

Google – AFP, 6 December 2012

The Jordanian king (centre) was welcomed by a military honour guard 

(AFP, Abbas Momani)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Jordan's King Abdullah II flew in to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday for the first visit by a top foreign leader since the Palestinians gained upgraded United Nations status.

The monarch arrived by military helicopter from Jordan, landing at the presidential headquarters known as the Muqataa, where he was greeted by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials.

"We and our Palestinian people and its leadership welcome this historic visit, which comes after Palestine became a (non-member) observer at the United Nations," presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement carried on the official news agency WAFA.

The Palestinians "highly appreciate the important role his majesty and Jordan played internationally and regionally and at the UN to achieve this important historical achievement," he said.

The Jordanian king was welcomed by a military honour guard at the Muqataa, where Jordanian flags where raised alongside Palestinian ones.

He was accompanied by a delegation including his Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

The visit is the first time a head of state has visited Ramallah since the Palestinians won non-member observer state status at the United Nations on November 29.

The 138-9 vote at the General Assembly was cheered by many Palestinians, although they acknowledged it will change little on the ground in the short term.

But it was fiercely opposed by both Israel and the United States, with the Jewish state quickly responding with punitive measures.

It announced it was reviving a plan to build settlements in a highly sensitive West Bank area known as E1, where observers say Israeli construction would effectively end the chance of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

Judeh, in a joint press statement with his Palestinian counterpart Riad al-Malki, slammed the E1 project, which has sparked an international backlash and caused unprecedented tension between Israel and European nations.

"This would divide the West Bank into two parts," he said, adding that E1 was "at the heart of the principle of geographical continuity of the Palestinian state."

"Settlement policy as a principle is rejected not only by us as the Jordanian Hashemite kingdom, as Arabs and Muslims, but by the whole world," he added.

Judeh praised the UN bid, will will give the Palestinians access to a range of international institutions, including potentially the International Criminal Court.

"We must be sure that the next phase will be a phase that leads us to negotiations that deal with all of the issues that we have mentioned, the final status issues, but within a timeframe," he added.

The Palestinian UN move has also already had a financial impact on the government headed by Abbas, with Israel withholding tax and tariff revenue for November in response.

Washington is also expected to withhold some aid to the Palestinians over the move, with Abbas likely to ask Arab League nations for additional money to make up the shortfall.

Abbas and King Abdullah were holding talks expected to touch on the dire financial straits of the Palestinian Authority. There were no immediate details on their discussions.