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Netanyahu and Hussein tight-lipped about talks

Thursday, November 20, 1997 Published at 04:13 GMT

Netanyahu and Hussein tight-lipped about talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed home early on Wednesday after meeting Jordan's King Hussein in Britain.

The two men met in the leafy Berkshire town of Ascot, near London, for more than two hours and discussed the developing crisis with Iraq.

Israeli officials did not comment on the meeting, the first between the two leaders since relations soured over a failed Israeli bid to assassinate a Palestinian Hamas leader in Amman in September. Agents from the Mossad secret service, using bogus Canadian passports, bungled the attack leading to a diplomatic incident.

[ image: Benjamin Netanyahu]

Jordan is Israel's closest friend in the Arab world but relations have cooled since the hawkish Mr Netanyahu replaced Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres last year.

Mr Netanyahu is expected back in Israel on Wednesday morning and will brief ministers in his security cabinet both on his trip to the United States and his talks with King Hussein.

Israeli Army Radio, quoting government officials, said King Hussein wanted assurances Israel would not violate Jordan's sovereignty should the Gulf stand-off develop into hostilities between Iraq and the Jewish state.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein launched waves of Scud missile attacks on Israel but the Jewish state refrained from retaliation at the request of its American allies.

Mr Netanyahu said before the meeting it was "important to the overall development of our region".

Israel's deputy defence minister said last week Israel could not be expected to stay idle if attacked by Iraq.

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