Jordan's king meets Abbas, backs PA on Jerusalem and refugees

Jordan's King Abdullah II conferred on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and called for progress to be made on core issues in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The monarch expressed Jordan's backing to the Palestinian Authority's efforts aimed at finding just solutions to all final status issues, particularly Jerusalem and the refugees," a royal court statement said.

Abbas told reporters after the meeting that he had briefed King Abdullah on the outcome of his latest meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

He said that his discussions with the monarch also tackled the Israeli excavations near Jerusalem's Mugrabi Gate and that the two sides would continue to coordinate their efforts with a view to preventing Israel from building a walkway there.

Abbas said that he intended to meet with Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Monday to urge them to support Egypt's efforts seeking to establish dialogue among his Fatah group, Hamas and other Palestinian factions.