Jordan's King Abdullah urges Netanyahu to 'cease violence' in rare Amman meeting

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Amman in a rare meeting after years of strained relations between the two leaders.

The royal palace said they discussed the situation in occupied East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and "the importance of respecting the historical and legal status quo".

Netanyahu, who previously served as prime minister from 2009 to 2021, returned to power last month at the head of a coalition that includes extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

On 3 January, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed the Jordanian-administered holy site, sparking a wave of international condemnation.

Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader discussed "regional issues" and bilateral ties with the Jordanian king.

The two leaders last met in Jordan in 2018.

Tuesday's visit to Amman was Netanyahu's first official trip abroad since taking office.

Netanyahu was joined by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, as well as national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Netanyahu's military secretary Avi Gil, an Israeli official said.

Jordan in 1994 became the second Arab country to recognise and sign a peace treaty with neighbouring Israel, after Egypt.

King Abdullah has repeatedly described ties with Israel as a "cold peace" and in late 2019 said that Israeli-Jordanian relations are at "an all-time low".

Israel's former defence minister Benny Gantz met Abdullah in Amman in January 2022, less than a month after a visit by former premier Naftali Bennett in a bid to repair the relationship.

According to the palace statement, the king stressed in his meeting with Netanyahu "the need to maintain calm and cease all acts of violence, in order to pave the way for a political horizon for the peace process".

He called for "an end to any measures that could undermine peace prospects" and "reaffirmed Jordan's steadfast position in support of the two-state solution" to the Palestine-Israel conflict, it added.

The foreign ministry in Amman summoned Israel's ambassador twice this month, once to protest far-right minister Ben-Gvir's storming of the Al-Aqsa compound, and a second time after Israeli police officers prevented the Jordanian ambassador from entering the site.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest place in Islam and the most-sacred Muslim site in Palestine.