Jordan denies direct mediation between Syria and the Palestinians

The Jordanian weekly al-Majd has said that a well-informed Jordanian official has denied reports that Jordan made direct mediation to bring together views between Syria and the Palestinian government.

The paper added that the Syrian embassy in Amman, for its part, denied having any official news about efforts that are being made to settle relations between Damascus and the Palestinian government.

The paper also quoted Jordanian sources as saying that chairman of the PLO political department, Farouk al-Qaddoumi, visited Damascus last week on top of a delegation to discuss with Syrian officials means of normalizing relations with the Palestinian government.

The paper also quoted in this respect the Palestinian ambassador in Amman, Omar al-Khatib, as saying that his "mission has no information on al-Qaddoumi's efforts to improve relations between Damascus and the Palestinian Authority and that it is not yet clear whether the delegation al-Qaddoumi headed during his visit to Damascus included any official from the Palestinian Authority."

Al-Khatib added that al-Qaddoumi who still lives abroad (not in the Palestinian territories) has visited Damascus repeatedly.