After months of strained ties, PM meets with Jordanian king

After months of strained relations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman on Monday to discuss ways to advance regional peace.

In what is apparently their first meeting since 2014, the two leaders “discussed regional developments and advancing the peace process and bilateral relations. Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to maintaining the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries became strained after an Israeli guard at the Israeli Embassy in Amman shot and killed two Jordanians last July. The guard said one of them had tried to attack him with a screwdriver. The second person was hit in the crossfire.

Netanyahu arranged a hero’s welcome for the guard back in Israel, angering the Jordanians. Abdullah said everyone in the kingdom was “infuriated” by the “unacceptable and provocative behavior,” presumably referring to Netanyahu.

Efforts to repair the relationship have been underway since then, and in an effort to placate the Jordanians, Israel apologized for the incident and appointed a new ambassador to Amman.

The meeting between the two leaders comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt visit the region to promote a U.S. plan for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, reportedly including Jerusalem. The long-awaited plan has yet to be made public.

Abdullah told Netanyahu that the fate of Jerusalem must be determined in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and that a solution should be based on establishing a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, on lands Israel captured in 1967.

Jordan also has a stake in east Jerusalem, serving as the custodian of major Muslim and Christian shrines there. Jerusalem’s Old City, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, is home to Muslim, Christian and Jewish holy sites.

A senior Jordanian official said the largely private meeting focused mainly on coordinating both countries’ positions ahead of the envoys visit this week.

The Jordanian official said Netanyahu and Abdullah also discussed the threat presented by Iran’s presence in Syria, and in particular attempts by Iranian-backed militias to take over rebel-held territory in southern Syria, near the borders with Israel and Jordan.

The two leaders are also believed to have discussed the Syrian regime’s expected takeover of territory near the border between Jordan, Israel and Syria and in the southern Golan Heights.

The Jordanians, who have already taken in over a million Syrian refugees, fear that further fighting in southern Syria will bring in another wave of refugees.

On Sunday, Palestinian officials told Israel Hayom that officials in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab ?Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, as well as top officials in the ?Palestinian Authority itself, are pressuring Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with the ?American envoys during their visit.

Abbas has said he will reject any plan being floated by the Trump team, saying the U.S. has forfeited its role as mediator because of what he described as its blatantly pro-Israel bias in decisions such as its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Arab diplomats said the Palestinian leader is likely to ?compromise and discuss the new ?American peace plan, ?albeit under protest.