By Abdul Jalil Mustafa, Arab News

Below is an exceprt from the article published in Arab News on May 1st:
 
AMMAN, 1 May 2008 — Jordan’s King Abdallah conferred yesterday in Amman with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and urged the Israelis and the Palestinians to reach a peace treaty before the end of the year, an official statement said.
Olmert paid a whirlwind visit to Jordan as part of Abdallah’s endeavors aimed at pushing Israel and the Palestinians to speed up their stalled negotiations on core issues, Jerusalem, the settlements, the frontiers and refugees, according to the statement from the royal court.
Olmert’s visit to Jordan came in the midst of mounting Arab concerns that Israel was not serious in its talks with the Palestinians and two weeks before US President George W Bush’s farewell trip to the region later this month.
“The monarch stressed the need for reaching an agreement before the end of the year based on the two-state formula and in accordance with the commitments made by the two parties during the Annapolis conference in November,” the statement said.
“Such an agreement should address all final status questions and lead to the setting up of an independent Palestinian state,” the monarch was quoted as saying. Abdallah also told Olmert that Israel “should improve the living circumstances of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
—With input from agencies