AMMAN, Nov 20, 2008 (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks on Thursday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas two days after Israeli leaders made a clandestine visit to the kingdom, a senior Jordanian official said.

The meeting took place at the kingdom's southern Red Sea resort of Aqaba, the official said as the palace declined to comment on this week's Jordanian-Israeli talks.

According to Israeli public radio, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak made a secret visit to Jordan on Tuesday and met with the king.

During the meeting the Jordanian monarch urged the Israeli leaders to refrain from launching a large-scale military operations in the Gaza Strip, the radio reported on Thursday citing a senior Israeli official.

The radio said the king took the initiative to seek to avoid a confrontation that might also cause trouble in his country, home to many Palestinians.

Olmert's press secretary declined to comment on the report when contacted by AFP in Jerusalem.

The palace also declined to confirm or deny the report.

But a senior government official told AFP in Amman that the king had told Olmert and Barak about "the need to stop all unilateral measures in the West Bank and in Gaza."

The king also told the Israeli leaders "not to launch military operations because such measures will prevent the achievement of peace," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

Israel "cannot enjoy peace... unless the Palestinians obtain security and their own state," the king reportedly told the Israeli leaders.

"King Abdullah II asked Olmert to deal seriously with the Palestinians in the negotiations in order to achieve a two-state solution," he added.

The monarch expected the king and Abbas to discuss "means of pushing ahead with peace negotiations with Israel on the basis of a two-state solution."

Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas took power there violently in June 2007. Control was tightened on November 5 with all crossings closed following a resurgence of violence and Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel.

At least 1,000 people demonstrated in Amman on Wednesday against the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

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