Jordan's king proposes normalizing relations with Israel
ALGIERS -- King Abdullah II of Jordan has proposed a new peace strategy that drops traditional Arab demands that Israel give up all land seized in the 1967 war and offers the Jewish state normalized relations with Arab countries, according to a text of the plan made available yesterday.
The proposal did not appear to have enough support to be adopted at an Arab League summit starting Monday in the Algerian capital. But even placing such a far-reaching change in strategy on the agenda would have been unthinkable in past league gatherings, suggesting new thinking in the peace process with Israel.
The Jordanian proposal does not mention specific UN resolutions and usual Arab demands for an Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and for the right of return of refugees, according to the text.
The omission suggests Abdullah, whose country signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994, wants the Arabs to accept geographical changes Israel has made in the territories and to start normalization even before a full peace is reached.
The text of Abdullah's proposal calls on Arab states to declare their ''preparedness to end the Arab-Israeli conflict and establish normal relations between the Arab countries and Israel through just, comprehensive, and lasting peace."
The proposal calls for any settlement to be based on ''international resolutions, the principal of land for peace, and the (1991) Madrid peace conference."
In a separate development yesterday, Israel banned its citizens from moving into Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, aiming to forestall a feared influx of ultranationalists bent on blocking a pullout from the occupied territory this summer.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas persuaded militants this week to extend until year's end a de facto truce, easing a threat of renewed attacks on settlers that might delay a pullout and brightening prospects for followup peace negotiations.
But as violence in Gaza has subsided, Israeli media have reported a wave of rightist Jews changing their address to settlements in the area in an effort to swell their 8,500 population and thwart troops assigned to evacuate the area. Arab leaders have always demanded full peace with Israel in return for normalization.
