Amman-Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has held a rare meeting with his Israeli counterpart to press for the restart of stalled negotiations between the Palestinians and the Jewish state.
Thursday’s meeting came days after Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas visited Jordan as part of an Arab tour to raise support for the Palestinians after Joe Biden won last month’s US presidential election.
During the meeting at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Safadi said the creation of an independent Palestinian state was key to ending the conflict with Israel.
“There is no alternative to a two-state solution” between Israel and the Palestinians, he told Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, quoted by the official Petra news agency.
“It is necessary to return to the negotiating table according to international law in order to find a real solution to achieve a just peace,” Safadi said.
On Friday, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz called on the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, in a video statement addressing the “Palestinian people and their leadership”. “The Middle East is changing. It is in your interest to come return to negotiate,” Gantz said in the statement that was posted online with Arabic subtitles.
Thursday’s meeting was the first with Jordan officially reported between Safadi and Ashkenazi since the latter, a former army chief of staff, become foreign minister in May.