PETRA, Jordan (AFP)

Jordan’s king urged Nobel laureates yesterday to help set up a Palestinian state and cure the world of conflict, ahead of a landmark meeting between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

Peace between Palestinians and Israelis “will only come with a peacefully negotiated final settlement based on international law,” King Abdullah II told Nobel prize-winners and celebrities at the World Heritage site of Petra.

Speaking against the backdrop of south Jordan’s rose-red mountains, King Abdullah pleaded for “two states – a sovereign Palestinian (state) alongside a secure Israel”.

He warned that “nothing will prevent progress more surely than standing by while a humanitarian disaster overwhelms the Palestinian people”.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will hold the first “informal” meeting between the two sides since June at a breakfast hosted by the king today. It comes seven weeks after Olmert took office and as Abbas seeks a deal with the Hamas-led Palestinian government that could implicitly recognise Israel.


The Palestinian territories have suffered from a shortage of cash since Europe and the United States cut financial aid to the government formed in March by the radical Islamist Hamas because it does not recognise Israel.

The breakfast meeting, which includes other guests, could break the ice between Abbas and Olmert, but officials caution against any breakthrough.

“Practical meetings should be carefully prepared so as not to face disappointments,” said Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate.