Jordan's king tells Israel settlements harm peace

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah warned Israel on Thursday against expanding its settlements on occupied Arab land and said such moves threatened to obstruct progress on a lasting peace accord, a palace official said.

The monarch told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who he met during previously unannounced talks at the royal palace in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, that Israel's settlement policy in the occupied West Bank was a violation of the U.S backed peace talks launched in Annapolis, Maryland, in November.

"His Majesty told Olmert Jordan was opposed to any settlement activity on Palestinian lands as such activity is a stark violation of agreements reached at the U.S.-hosted conference," the official told Reuters.

Israeli officials have said Israel may allow construction within built up areas of existing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, but would not expand beyond those areas.

The Palestinians say the peace negotiations, the first in seven years, hinge on Israel committing to halt all settlement activity, including so-called natural growth, as called for under a long-stalled "road map" peace plan.

Israel has announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in an area near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Abu Ghneim.

The monarch said such a unilateral move could cast doubt on the success of renewed peace negotiations after the Annapolis meeting, in which the leaders set the goal of reaching a statehood agreement before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.

"His Majesty urged Israel to halt unilateral activities that may obstruct progress in the negotiations and urged Tel Aviv to adopt serious and practical policies that reflect its stated desire for peace," the Jordanian palace official said.

Abdullah also urged Olmert to strive towards a comprehensive peace treaty that resolves substantive final status issues such as borders, the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Many of Jordan's 5.7 million citizens are Palestinians whose families settled there after successive Arab-Israeli wars, placing the kingdom, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, at the heart of decades of conflict.

(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Michael Winfrey; Reuters Messaging; suleiman.al-khalidi.reuters.com@reuters.net; Amman newsroom +9626 4623776)