Arafat confers with Prince Hassan of Jordan

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Monday upon his arrival in Amman held a closed-door meeting with the Jordanian Crown Prince Hassan. Later, members of the Jordanian and Palestinian sides joined the meeting.

Arafat briefed Crown Prince Hassan on latest developments concerning US efforts and contacts to convene a tripartite meeting near Washington on Thursday and the initiatives made to revive negotiations on the Israeli-Palestinian tracks, including the US initiative.

Just three days before the Wye Plantation summit between the Palestinians and the Israelis, US President Bill Clinton, who will host the summit made telephone calls on Monday to Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Spokesman for the White House Joe Lockhart said that President Clinton tried in his separate half-hour telephone calls to the two leaders to learn points of agreement and disagreement between the two sides before the summit meeting on Thursday.

On his way to the US, Arafat will stop in London to meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Palestinian delegation to the summit includes the second man in the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazin), Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath, and other key Palestinian politicians.

Arafat said today that he hopes the anticipated three-way summit will reveal a tangible positive agreement concerning the second stage of Israeli redeployment in the West Bank.

He added that he is looking forward to agreements concerning the withdrawal from the West Bank and the Jerusalem issue.