Abbas seeks Jordan's help to end Israeli offensive

AMMAN, July 11 (Reuters) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets Jordan's King Abdullah today to ask Amman to use what influence it has on Israel to press it to stop its major military offensive in Gaza, officials said.

They said Abbas was flown overnight to Amman in a Jordanian helicopter in a surprise visit to brief the monarch and top officials about Israel's air and ground assault in the Gaza Strip which started on June 28.

Jordan enjoys the warmest ties with Israel among its Arab neighbours and has close security cooperation since a peace treaty in 1994.

''President Abbas will ask King Abdullah for his help in ending Israeli attacks on civilians that can only fuel more violence and undermine efforts to resume peace talks,'' an official familiar with the talks said.

Officials say Amman is using its leverage in quiet diplomacy to moderate Israel's actions against Palestinians.

Israel says the offensive is aimed at pressuring militants to return a soldier abducted by militants and to stop rocket attacks against southern Israel.

Jordan fears a spillover of violence in the Palestinian territories across its borders and has strongly prodded Israel to engage Abbas as a peace partner and urged its Jewish neighbour to resume stalled peace talks.

But the Israeli offensive in the Gaza strip which has killed about 50 Palestinians, drawing international criticism, has also raised passions in Jordan where anti-Israeli feelings are running high.

The prospects for stable Palestinian statehood in the West Bank, which Israel captured from neighbouring Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, are of special concern to King Abdullah who has a Palestinian majority in his own country.

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