LONDON, Nov 10: Jordan’s King Abdullah has said the Arab world must be ready to offer a collective guarantee of Israel’s security in return for the setting up of a Palestinian state, The Times reported Saturday.

The British daily said that a deal along these lines was already being discussed by the main international players including the United States, Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, Egypt and Jordan.

Abdullah said that a long-term strategy of this nature would underpin a new initiative to be launched soon by President George W. Bush’s administration in the United States.

If an agreement was reached, Israel would for the first time be offered a guarantee of its existence and security by all countries from the Gulf to Morocco.

According to the plan “the Arab countries will make a statement guaranteeing the security of Israel,” Abdullah told The Times.

The king’s remarks were “exploratory” according to the daily, which said he is understood to have canvassed the idea in the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and several north African states.

Abdullah on Friday rounded off an official three-day state visit to Britain where he held talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair at Downing Street.

“To this day we don’t know what the end game is”, the king told The Times.

No one yet knew what would follow the Mitchell proposals aimed at an immediate end to violence. But it was a “given” that Israel would not disappear, he said.

It was not yet a given that a Palestinian state would appear.

“Responsibility has to be taken on both sides of the equation.”

On Bush, Abdullah said: “He is ready to move. But, the way he describes it, he plays the presidential card, so you can’t play that card if there’s a chance of failure.

“What happens if that fails? You are going to have to wait for years ... it must be 99 percent clear, and I agree with him.”—AFP