Jordan's King Makes Rare West Bank Trip to Meet Abbas
Jordan's King Abdullah II met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday, in his first trip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 2017, Abbas's office said.
Abdullah's visit came as foreign ministers from four Arab countries and the U.S. wrapped up a meeting which host Israel hailed as "historic", following a series of normalization agreements last year which angered the Palestinians.
Abdullah's visit, which lasted about two hours, was held less than a week before Ramadan, the Muslim holy month which last year saw waves of violence across the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
The Jordanian king met Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid earlier this month to discuss strategies for containing unrest during Ramadan.
Palestinian officials have repeatedly warned that the West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in 1967, was on the verge of "exploding".
Tensions in the occupied territory remain high between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers, who live in communities widely regarded as illegal under international law.
Palestinians also regularly clash with Israeli security forces in the West Bank, often resulting in Palestinian deaths.
Tahani Mustafa, West Bank analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, told AFP that Jordan was seeking to be proactive after having been "caught off guard" last year, when Ramadan tensions escalated into an 11-day conflict between Israel and the Hamas Islamists who control Gaza.
"Already we've seen significant tension in Jerusalem which hasn't died down since the last line of conflict," she told AFP.
"It only makes sense for Jordan to try and intervene in some way to quell tensions."
Jordan has a special role as custodian of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam.
Monday's meeting deep inside Israel's Negev desert was attended by the top diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco -- which established ties with Israel in 2020 -- and Egypt, which recognized the Jewish state in 1979.
Jordan is the only other Arab country to have full diplomatic relations with Israel, formed in 1994.
Mustafa said Amman had to be particularly "sensitive about how it publicly navigates its relationship with Israel because of the high number of Palestinians that it hosts" inside Jordan.
28 March 2022, 17:24
01
Mahmoud Abbas is the Palestinian equivalent of Michel Aoun…. He needs to go!
28 March 2022, 17:31
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If, as you state, the West Bank is occupied, then how did King Abdullah get to Ramallah?
28 March 2022, 18:16
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He entered the same way that Mahmoud Abbas exists and enter i.e with the permission of the occupier. And why are you even asking about two israel-approved leaders? They are not living like the people. How do the civilian Palestinians enter and exist the west bank and why are they searched by the israeli army which even has check points between Palestinian towns and cities?. Its like someone asking "if the holocaust really took place, why are there jews alive". You of course already know how ridiculous your comments are but zionist propaganda does not care about that since you look down on the intelligence of non jews and think people will fall for your silly propaganda. Pathetic.
28 March 2022, 18:38
10
"Mustafa said Amman had to be particularly "sensitive about how it publicly navigates its relationship with Israel because of the high number of Palestinians that it hosts" inside Jordan"
Amman also has to be sensitive because of the high number of jordanians that it hosts who are just as much against israel. All Muslims (munafiqoun who worship money and power at any cost not included) are. But the people being against israel is only a deterrent in countries that have some level of freedom and democracy which jordan has. In UAE and other full blown dictatorships, the ruler does not need to take the will of the people into consideration because the state shuts down any critcisim harshly and immediately.
28 March 2022, 18:40
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Jordan also has many powerful armed tribes and on top of it criminal groups on the borders between syria and iraq and others inside the cities that would take advantage of instability. The state security would have to fight fronts from all directions. So its not as simple as having a large percentage of Palestinians as if only Palestinians are against israel. Amman can't take risks of having instability especially since after the arab spring when the jordanian tribes at first tried to change leader and mocking him for being "western" i.e due to him having a british mom among other reasons. The gulf has hundreds of thousands of Palestinians that are contributing to those countries and influential religious leaders who are anti-israel as well as the majority of the arab population (citizens and non-citzens) who are against israel yet it still did not stop the normalization.
