His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman.

Talks focused on efforts to push the Middle East peace process towards a comprehensive peace, beginning with a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

King Abdullah and Abbas reviewed international efforts to launch proximity talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, which were endorsed by the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up committee, which met at the Cairo-based Arab League offices this week.

During the meeting, the King stressed Jordan's support for the Palestinian National Authority's efforts to establish an independent state on Palestinian national soil. Abbas briefed the King on the outcome of his recent visit to China and several Arab states.

The meeting comes as part of regional efforts to coordinate Arab positions before Abbas' imminent visit to Washington. The meeting was attended by Royal Court Chief Nasser Lozi, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and the Palestinian ambassador to Jordan, Ata Khairi.

At a press conference after the meeting, Abbas said the meeting “comes as part of consultations with Arab leaders as we head for a meeting with [US Middle East special peace envoy] George Mitchell”.

He said the Palestinian leadership considers intensive consultations with King Abdullah and other Arab leaders a central component of its peace diplomacy.

Abbas added that he has also met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Ben Zayed Al Nahayan. These meetings, he said, are meant to hammer out a unified stand on “coming indirect talks with Israel”.

On whether the decision to start the indirect talks has been approved or not by Arabs and other Palestinian parties, Abbas said, “We cannot say there is an approval or not… There is a very important pan-Arab recommendation.”

The Palestinian leadership will meet next Saturday to give its final word. “After that we will inform Mitchell that we are ready to start the negotiations on final status issues,” Abbas said.

In his comment on coordination with Arab countries, Abbas said the Palestinian leadership “is keen to maintain full coordination with Arab countries”.

“Whenever a new event arises that needs an urgent response, the follow-up committee will convene to handle the situation,” he said.

“The opinion of the Arab countries is of great importance for us,” Abbas said. “If they oppose a certain move, we will not take it.”

Concerning obstacles that face the proximity talks and whether these talks will bring about a tangible outcome, Abbas said the indirect negotiations “have a four-month deadline and after that we will report to the Arab League's follow-up committee for an opinion”.

He also indicated that the talks will focus on final status issues like security and borders with no need to discuss less important issues which, he said, “had been covered in previous talks”.