Thu 30 May 2019:
Jordan on Wednesday stood by a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, exposing a rift with the United States as the Trump administration tries to rally Arab support for a peace conference next month in Bahrain. Presidential advisors Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman, the Jordanian capital. The official Petra news agency said the two parties “discussed regional developments, especially efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” The king restated his commitment to the two-state solution, with the formation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, a position that appears to be at odds with President Trump’s still undisclosed peace plan. Greenblatt tweeted that he had a “constructive meeting” with Abdullah that included “a good conversation about regional dynamics and our administration’s efforts to help Israel and the Palestinians achieve a brighter future.”
Jordan, a key U.S. ally, has not yet said whether it will attend the June 25-26 meeting in Manama, capital of the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain. The Palestinians have already said they will not attend the summit and have rejected the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan out of hand. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who arrived from Morocco, has said the conference would focus on the economic foundations of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
The meeting will not include core political issues, such as Palestinian statehood. Greenblatt and Kushner met with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Tuesday and discussed that country’s support for the peace conference. Moroccan officials declined to comment on the meeting. The White House confirmed that Kushner was in Amman on Wednesday, but gave no details. Trump has vowed to try to end decades of discord between Palestinians and Israelis. But Trump angered Palestinians when he declared the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moved the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv, among other actions.
Kushner has indicated the Trump administration’s plan would not include a two-state solution. Jordan’s reliance on American political and military support will make it difficult for the kingdom to reject the invitation. But with most of its people of Palestinian descent, it will be also be difficult to embrace a plan that does not include a Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority has urged other governments to join it in boycotting the Bahrain conference.
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