Abdullah: Arabs back Quartet demands

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Arab nations agree with Western preconditions imposed on the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. The Quartet of Western mediators has remained firm in its demands that the Palestinian Authority government recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace deals, even after the ruling Hamas signed a power-sharing pact with the more moderate Fatah faction in a bid to soften foreign pressure. Abdullah said in an Israeli television interview broadcast Saturday that the peace preconditions are endorsed in the Arab world. “You’re not alone on this,” he told Channel 2. “There’s international common ground – not just Western but also Arab and to an extent Muslim – that believes that there have to be certain criteria that the new government has to accept if we’re going to more the process forward.” Abdullah said that working in parallel with the Quartet – the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations – is an “Arab Quartet” seeking to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.