Jordan emphasises support for Palestine before Bahrain conference

Jordan’s King Abdullah II yesterday reaffirmed his support for the Palestinian cause, “stress[ing] the need to step up all efforts to achieve comprehensive and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution,” according to a Royal Court statement.

In his meeting with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the king underscored the importance of “establish[ing] an independent Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with Israel in peace and security, in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions.”

King Abdullah met with Kushner to discuss regional developments, especially efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as part of the US official’s regional tour aimed at drumming up support for the US-led Bahrain conference next month, to which Jordan has still not committed. In this conference, the US prepares to reveal the economic portion of its peace plan dubbed the “deal of the century”.

The king faces tremendous domestic pressure to reject Trump’s “deal of the century”. On Tuesday, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood led a sit-in at the US embassy in the capital Amman, calling on the government to boycott the Bahrain conference.

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Jordan shares its Western border with the West Bank and Israel and Palestinians are estimated to number more than 60 per cent of the Jordanian population. The monarchs of Jordan serve as custodians of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and prior to the 1967 War, Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The outcomes of the Bahrain conference are therefore of great interest to the kingdom. The conference is set to take place in Manama, the Bahraini capital, on 25-26 June, as the White House begins to roll out its vision for peace in the region. Entitled “Peace to Prosperity”, the conference aims to “encourage investing capital in the West Bank, Gaza, and the region,” according to a senior Trump administration official. Thus far, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have agreed to send delegations to the conference, while Palestinian businessmen and officials will not be participating.

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