Israel Foreign Relations Jordan

President Clinton, searching for ways to break the escalating cycle of Middle East violence, pledged Tuesday "personally to do anything I can" to save the peace process. But talks with King Hussein here produced little in the way of movement or new ideas, according to U.S. and Jordanian officials. The Clinton administration instead is throwing the ball back into the Israeli and Palestinian court.

Near a desert oasis that once was the headquarters of Lawrence of Arabia, a Jordanian air base is quietly being reconstructed this month to host nearly 1,500 U.S. Air Force troops and 34 F-16s that will soon start flying daily sorties over southern Iraq. U.S. warplanes based in the Jordanian desert to monitor Saddam Hussein's army? The very idea would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

King Hussein offered a dramatic gesture Tuesday in support of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, as the Jordanian monarch made his first public visit to the West Bank in almost 30 years to discuss the troubled Mideast peace process. Hussein, the first Arab leader to travel to this autonomous Palestinian area, said his landmark visit was intended to help speed the pace of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over Israel's overdue withdrawal of its troops from the West Bank city of Hebron.

Israel begins a long series of direct talks today with Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian officials on the pivotal issue of Palestinians who fled their homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during and immediately after the June, 1967, Arab-Israeli War. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will head the Israeli negotiating team in Amman, the Jordanian capital. The Israelis say there are between 200,000 and 400,000 Palestinians who qualify as displaced persons.

Negotiators for Israel and Jordan will meet Thursday in an air-conditioned tent at Ein Evrona, a desert nature preserve on the Israeli side of the frontier, to discuss border problems. At stake are several thousand acres of land claimed by Jordan but currently cultivated by Israeli kibbutzim (collective farms). Land, water and travel rights are top subjects as the Middle East neighbors enter a peaceful relationship.

After decades of alleged secret meetings with Israeli leaders, Jordan's King Hussein said Tuesday that he hopes the revival of peace talks next month will lead to an open meeting between the former enemies, perhaps even before the signing of a full treaty. "It is very possible; I'm quite flexible," he told a news conference here. "When there is a reason, then we'll meet. (There) is nothing to prevent that."

In a historic move, former adversaries Israel and Jordan officially opened embassies Sunday in each other's largest cities, making Jordan the second Arab country to establish an embassy in the Jewish state.

The push for peace in the Middle East is again gathering momentum, with Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization determinedly leading the way toward what they hope will become an overall resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

KING HUSSEIN "Out of all the days of my life, I do not believe there is one such as this in terms of the feelings, the emotions relating to a long, long struggle." "This day is a day of commitment, and this day is a day of hope and vision." * YITZHAK RABIN "Your Majesty, the entire state of Israel is shaking your hand." "I would like to . . . tell children on both sides of the border we hope and pray that your life will be different than our."

In the working-class area of downtown Amman and the chic restaurants of the upscale Shmeisaneh district, Jordanians on Monday welcomed the draft peace treaty with Israel. "Who hates peace?" asked Majaad Ghanma as he bought pastries at Shmeisaneh's Jabri patisserie. "The main thing is for Jordanians to feel that we are not expecting war anymore.