JORDAN: AMMAN: GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER KLAUS KINKEL VISIT

Описание: (5 Mar 1997) English/Nat

Israel should reverse a decision to build 6,500 homes for Jews in east Jerusalem, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said Wednesday.

He urged both Palestinians and Israelis to reverse any measures that could harm the Mideast peace process.

The comments came during a Middle East tour by Kinkel, who arrived in Jordan on Tuesday.

He visits Israel and the Palestinian territories this week amid a revived effort by the European Union to play a bigger role in the peace process.

Accompanied by executives representing 20 German firms, Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel has arrived in Jordan on the first leg of his Middle East tour.

Wednesday's itinerary involved a meeting with crown Prince Hassan to discuss the Middle East peace process and economic assistance to Jordan.

The meeting came the day after discussions between Kinkel and King Hussein of Jordan.

The German Foreign Minister has spent the visit laying out his plans for economic cooperation between Germany and the Middle East.

Germany is Jordan's third largest aid donor, after Japan and the United States.

It contributed more than 2 billion marks (dlrs 1.2 billion) in the last 40 years to resource- barren Jordan, which is struggling with dlrs 6.3 billion in foreign debt.

One of the current proposals is for German financing of joint Jordanian-Israeli water projects as part of European Union assistance to build Mideast peace.

Kinkel is accompanied by a high-level business delegation which includes nearly 20 executives.

Wednesday's talks also focused on the Mideast peace process in view of Israeli settlement plans in Arab controlled east Jerusalem.

Last week, Israel announced plans to build the housing units in Har Homa in Arab east Jerusalem - known as Jabal Abu Ghneim in Arabic, which was seized from Jordan in the 1967 war and later annexed.

The move drew widespread criticism since the fate of east Jerusalem is supposed to be determined in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that begin this month.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their would-be state.

Kinkel made it clear that Germany opposed Israel's position on the issue.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"My answer yesterday on this question was the same. My feeling is that the Israeli government should reflect again on this decision."
SUPERCAPTION: Klaus Kinkel, German Foreign Minister

Kinkel's next stop on his tour is a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories where he will have to elaborate further on how the European Union proposes to break the deadlock.

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