US to give Jordan letter of assurance on Mideast peace

The United States will give Jordanian King Abdullah a letter of assurance on Thursday that Israel and Palestine must decide key issues through negotiations to achieve peace, US officials said on Wednesday.

"We will see the king tomorrow and I think the king will be pleased," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday when asked if the Jordanian king would receive such a letter from the United States.

The Jordanian monarch is expected to meet with US President George W. Bush at the White House on Thursday.

Another US official said that the letter would reiterate Bush's commitment that final status issues need to be negotiated through the Israelis and Palestinians as well as a Palestinian state living along with Israel.

It is hard to say whether such a letter would satisfy Abdullah. According to a report by the New York Times on Tuesday, Abdullah had requested a written statement from the United States that Palestinians deprived of land and homes would be compensated in a future peace accord with Israel.

Abdullah has made clear that he wanted such a letter from Bush to be issued at the time of their White House meeting, the report said.

King Abdullah was originally scheduled to visit the White House last month, but the visit was delayed in a show of protest over Bush's support for Sharon's ultimate retention of some settlements in the West Bank and rejection of the longtime Palestinian demand for a right of return to family homes abandoned in 1948 in what is now Israel.

The White House reiterated its support for Sharon's disengagement plan even after the plan was overwhelmingly rejected by Sharon's own Likud Party.

Source: Xinhua