Netanyahu and King Abdullah II of Jordan meet in Amman
The prime minister reiterated Israel's commitment to preserving the status quo in Jerusalem's holy sites.
By HERB KEINONUpdated: JUNE 18, 2018 23:04Jordan's King Abdullah II (R) greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2010(photo credit: JASON REED/REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid an unannounced visit to Amman on Monday for a meeting with King Abdullah II, the Prime Minister's Office announced after Netanyahu returned to Israel.According to the statement, the two men discussed “regional developments and advancing the peace process, and bilateral relations.”The meeting comes prior to the scheduled arrival this week in the region of US officials Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt to discuss US President Donald Trump's long-awaited peace proposal. The team is expected to visit Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.The PMO said that Netanyahu reiterated in his meeting with Abdullah Israel's commitment to maintaining the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem, an issue of sensitivity to the Jordanian king. .Netanyahu has met Abdullah several times over the last nine years, some of those meetings in secret, and others announced after the fact.The meeting comes several months after Israel and Jordan patched up ties that were strained by a stabbing and shooting incident at Israel's embassy compound in Amman last year. After an absence of nine months, Israel dispatched a new ambassador to Amman in April.
