“We extend the hand of peace on behalf of all the nations of the region,” say Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers in Jerusalem Wednesday

debkafile reports: Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Ilah al-Khatib, representing the only two Arab governments which have signed peace with Israel, pointedly avoided issuing this statement on behalf of the Arab League, which has never recognized Israel. However, in their talks with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, they pushed forward the League’s Middle East peace plan, which confronts Israel with three conditions for normal relations: full withdrawal from land occupied in the 1967war – including Jerusalem, the creation of a Palestinian state and a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. The two Arab ministers also met with foreign minister Tzipi Livni, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu and senior Liikud lawmaker Yuval Steinetz.
Netanyahu said Israel’s unilateral pullout from Gaza in 2005 had failed and added, “Wherever Israel hands over territory, the place immediately turns into a terror base for radical Islam. We need to restart the political process by means of economic projects which will advance peace and not the oother way round,” the Likud leader said.
In Washington, Jordan’s king Abdullah urged president Bush to step up US efforts for a Middle East peace. An administration official said the US president remained committed to two states living side by side in peace and security.