Both President Husni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abduallah II of Jordan voiced Wednesday their concern over the growing tension in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly the Hamas-Fatah infighting that has marked recent weeks.
In their meeting in Cairo, the two Arab leaders stressed that the Palestinian people, who have already been suffering from harsh living conditions, are the only losers of such instability.
President Mubarak considered the intra-Palestinian differences as ‘unprecedented’, calling on all concerned Palestinian parties to resort to dialogue instead of further escalation and splits.
Ahead of US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice’s visit to the region on Friday, both leaderships believed that the international community should take concrete steps quickly to help both the Palestinians and Israelis carry out confidence rebuilding measures that would contribute to a revival of the peace process.
The meeting, which was attended by senior Jordanian and Egyptian officials, dealt also with other regional concerns such as the Iraqi conflict.
