Jordan's King Abdullah II turned to Jewish leaders from the United States this week in hopes of convincing them to help pressure Israel to accept the 2002 Saudi Peace Plan as a means of getting talks with the Palestinian Authority back on track.

The king and his wife, Queen Rania, who was born in a region today controlled by the Palestinian Authority, met Tuesday with the heads of the American Jewish Congress at the Royal Court in Amman to urge them to support an independent PA state.