Amman – Jordan’s king affirmed his support Sunday for establishing a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem, highlighting his differences with the Trump administration on a central issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Abdullah II spoke at the start of a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who also expressed concern about President Donald Trump’s recognition last month of contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“I think there are very good reasons to question the theory that unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would contribute to the consolidation of peace in the Middle East,” Steinmeier was quoted as telling the Jordanian daily Al-Ghad in an interview published Sunday.
One of the pillars of Germany’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “is the need to preserve the status of holy sites and to negotiate the final status of Jerusalem within the framework of the two-state solution,” Steinmeier, a former foreign minister, told Al-Ghad.
Jordan’s monarch serves as custodian of a major Muslim shrine in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the kingdom’s Hashemite dynasty derives much of its political legitimacy from its special role in Jerusalem. Jordan is also home to a large Palestinian population.
“I think our views on Palestine and Jerusalem are well known to you,” the king told the German president Sunday. “We do believe in a two-state solution, with (east) Jerusalem as a capital for the Palestinians.”
At the same time, Jordan is a staunch U.S. ally and a major recipient of U.S. economic and military aid.
Abdullah has stopped short of siding with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who said after Trump’s dramatic policy shift on Jerusalem that Washington can no longer serve as the sole mediator between Israelis and Palestinians.
The king received U.S. Vice President Mike Pence last week, and has said the U.S. remains an indispensable broker.
Trump raised new concerns last week when he said at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that he had taken Jerusalem “off the table.”
U.S. officials have stressed repeatedly that the Jerusalem recognition has no impact on negotiations over the borders or sovereignty of the holy city.
Trump also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the global summit that Israel had “won” on the matter but would have to make concessions to the Palestinians in any eventual talks.
Steinmeier is on a four-day visit to Jordan and Lebanon.
On Monday, he is to visit the Azraq camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan and a nearby air base by the same name where some 300 German troops are stationed as part of the U.S.-led international military campaign against Islamic State group extremists in Jordan.
Germany, which has absorbed hundreds of thousands of Syrian war refugees, has stepped up efforts in recent years to help improve conditions for refugees in regional host countries.
About 660,000 registered Syrian refugees live in Jordan, though Jordanian authorities say the actual number is double that.
Germany has given 595 million euros ($740 million) in bilateral humanitarian and development aid to Jordan in 2017, up from 470 million euros ($584 million) in 2016, embassy officials said.
He may call Jerusalem their capital or Ramallah or even Gaza but there will never again be a Palestine.
I call for the capital to be in Amman.
The king is again pandering to the so called Palestinians and the rest of the Muslim world. The last thing he wants his to have them all turn on him as a traitor to a common cause.
He should take note of how his late father had it with the antics of Arafat and his minions and went to war with these pretenders to G-D given land of Israel. They will turn on anyone giving them aid and shelter.
Thank you TRUMP. After a long time and thousands of casulties (Yidische Neshomos) we made Jordan, Egypt our friends and quite on the borders. You needed to Incite them again. For what? When was the last time a Yid even wondered in the parts of Jerusalem where the chayes live. Who cares what is there. Let them declare their capital.
? Conceded “East Jerusalem” ?
That’s Biblical Jerusalem, the ancient City of David, the JEWISH King David, that Muslims demand?
Where Jewish holy sites were desecrated and Jews were banned when under Jordanian/Arab occupation, before being liberated by Israel, b’ezrat HaShem, in 1967 and made accessible to all – EXCEPT for the Temple Mount, where today Jews are arrested for moving their lips in prayer, because of a political decision by a Zionist IDF general to let Muslims retain control of the holiest site in Judaism?
Can a greater concession by a people for peace than its holiest holy site be imagined?
Or when it comes to Israel and the Jewish people, enough will never be enough?
Well Bibi said other nations would be moving their embassies to Jerusalem. So far we have the United States, Guatemala and Iran.