Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri voiced his support for Syria's uprising and urged Muslims in several countries, including Lebanon, to come to the aid of Syrian rebels confronting President Bashar Assad's forces.

"I appeal to every Muslim and every free, honorable one in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, to rise to help his brothers in Syria with all that he can," Zawahiri said in a new video message released on jihadist Internet forums, U.S. monitors SITE Intelligence said on Sunday.

Middle East peace Quartet envoy Tony Blair met Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Amman on Saturday to discuss the stalled peace process, Blair's office said.

A statement said Blair reaffirmed to Abbas the Quartet and international community's "commitment" to the peace process, "and the need to launch credible and serious negotiations in order to reach the two-state solution."

Jordanian Islamists on Sunday called on Muslims and Arabs to boycott Russian and Chinese products after the two countries vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria's regime over bloodshed.

"By vetoing the resolution, Russia and China have shown that they are taking part in the killing of Syrian people," Hammam Saeed, the leader of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, said on the group's website.

Saboteurs on Sunday blew up a pipeline that supplies gas to Israel, the 12th such attack in a year, security officials said.

Masked gunmen planted explosives under the pipeline in the Al-Massaeed area, close to the town of El-Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, they said.

Jordanian military prosecutors on Friday charged an outspoken former MP with incitement against the regime and calling for a revolt, a judicial official said.

"State security court prosecutors charged Ahmed Abbadi with inciting the public to oppose the regime and urging a revolt during a protest for military retirees last month," the official told Agence France Presse.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon called on Tuesday for "goodwill gestures" by Israel to encourage the Palestinians to revive the Middle East peace process, ahead of talks with leaders from the two sides.

Speaking after meeting with Jordanian leaders, Ban did not say what the gestures were, but he has been an outspoken critic of Israel's increased settlement in the occupied territories, which the Palestinians blame for the latest peace impasse.

Jordanian police in the southern city of Tafileh fired tear gas on Sunday to disperse angry stone-throwing demonstrators who called on authorities to make good on their promise of jobs, the governor said.

"Scores of unemployed men blocked the main road in the city, throwing stones at government buildings as well as police," Hashem Sehiem told the state-run Petra news agency.

Khaled Meshaal, political chief of the Hamas movement that rules Gaza, is due in Jordan on Sunday on his first official visit since he was expelled in 1999, the government spokesman said.

"Khaled Meshaal will visit Jordan on Sunday, along with the Crown Prince of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Tamim al-Thani," Rakan Majali, who is also information minister, told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

Palestinian and Israeli delegates met on Saturday in Jordan for a third "exploratory" meeting on the possibility of a resumption of peace talks, a Jordanian official said.

"The third meeting between the Palestinian delegate Saeb Erakat and Israel's Yitzhak Molcho began on Saturday just after 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) in the presence of Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh," the official told Agence France Presse.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held a "positive" first face-to-face meeting in more than 15 months and agreed to meet again on Friday, but cautioned that full-blown talks were still some way off.

"The talks and atmosphere were positive," Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told reporters after Tuesday's talks in Amman between Israel's chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, his Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat and Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh.