News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Jordanian King Abdullah and United States President George Bush met on Tuesday night to discuss Israel’s conflict with the Palestinian Authority.  Abdullah called on Bush to increase his efforts to reach a peace deal between the two.  In order to do so, Abdullah said, Israel should be pressured to make “confidence-building steps,” including the destruction of all Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria and the removal of checkpoints.

US officials refused to give details of the meeting, which they said was private.  A spokesman said that President Bush “remains committed to the idea of two states, Israel and Palestine, existing next to each other in peace and security.”