AMMAN, July 20 (AFP) - The EU`s top foreign policy envoy Javier Solana, on a four-day tour of the Middle East, held talks Tuesday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher on the Palestinian crisis and Iraq.
"The need for calm to be restored in the Palestinian territories as well as the situation in Iraq was the focus of the discussions," a Jordanian official said.
Solana is due to meet Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez on the Jordan leg of his tour, which also takes him to Egypt and Israel.
Mass protests at corruption erupted in Gaza on Saturday and Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei has refused to retract his resignation in a political crisis sparked by Palestinian president Yasser Arafat appointing his unpopular cousin Musa as head of the Palestinian general security service.
Arafat subsequently demoted Musa by naming Abdel Razzeq al-Majeida as overall security supremo with his cousin`s responsibility limited to Gaza.
Solona was holding his talks one day after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi kicked off his maiden Middle East tour in Jordan and King Abdullah II appealed to the international community for help to end the cycle of violence in Iraq.