Jordan's Minister of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs Ayman Safadi on Sunday discussed with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri and PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat coordination of efforts to kickstart serious and effective peace talks to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-state solution. During the meeting, the officials reiterated that peace is a strategic Arab choice as underlined by the Amman Declaration, which was issued at the Arab summit which the Jordan hosted in March. The summit had relaunched the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as the most comprehensive formula to achieve a historic reconciliation between all Arab states and Israel, Jordan News Agency (Petra) reported. The officials stressed that the two-state solution, which guarantees the setting up of an independent Palestinian state along June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and lives in peace alongside Israel, is the sole avenue to achieve lasting peace. They also reviewed the outcome of Arab leaders' visits to the United States and the "positive and constructive" talks they held with US President Donald Trump about the need to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The officials said Jordan, Egypt and Palestine commended Trump's commitment to working for a solution to the conflict and achieving pace, pledging that their countries will cooperate with the US administration and assume the full responsibility to take the necessary steps to open a new political horizon to move toward a lasting peace. The officials said the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the core of tension in the region and that finding a settlement to it via the two-state solution is the condition to achieving regional peace and stability. Today's meeting also discussed the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who are on an open-ended hunger strike, and the officials urged Israel to meet the humanitarian and just demands of the prisoners under the international law and the Geneva Conventions. They also reviewed the situation in the region and agreed that efforts should be stepped up to end crisis, stressing cooperation with the international community in the fight against terrorism, which poses a common threat that must be defeated. The officials agreed to pursue coordination to create the proper environment for ending the political stalemate in the peace process and also agreed to hold their next meeting in Cairo and later in Palestine.
