The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, met on Thursday with King Abdullah II of Jordan, who urged the Israeli leader to commit to a two-state solution with the Palestinians, according to news reports.
Mr. Netanyahu made the unannounced trip to Jordan hours before he was to meet in Nazareth with Pope Benedict XVI, and days ahead of a pivotal meeting with President Obama, scheduled to take place in Washington on Monday. It will be the first meeting between the Israeli and American leaders since the conservative-leaning Mr. Netanyahu took office six weeks ago.
The Obama administration has pronounced the two-state solution — the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel — to be the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Netanyahu has so far refused to publicly endorse the notion of a sovereign Palestinian state, a point of possible friction with Washington.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu, said that the Israeli prime minister and the Jordanian monarch discussed bilateral issues and the peace process with the Palestinians. On the subject of Palestinian statehood, Mr. Regev said only that “the Prime Minister expressed his view that he is committed to moving forward and is committed to tangible steps that will benefit people on the ground.”
A statement issued by the royal palace after the meeting and quoted by news organizations said that the king had also asked Mr. Netanyahu to accept the Arab peace initiative, which offers Israel normal ties with the Arab world in return for a full withdrawal to its pre-1967 boundaries and a solution for the Palestinian refugees of 1948.
Mr. Netanyahu has emphasized the Palestinians’ need for rapid economic development. While stating his readiness for political talks, he has been less eager to define the desired outcome.
By meeting with King Abdullah, and earlier this week with the president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik, Mr. Netanyahu seemed to want to pursue a regional approach that would pit moderate forces in the region against those that reject Israel outright, like Iran and its proxies.
Mr. Regev said that Mr. Netanyahu wanted to see Egypt and Jordan, countries that already signed peace treaties with Israel, playing an “enhanced role” in the Israeli-Palestinian process.
At a news conference in Egypt on Monday, the Israeli leader expressed appreciation for Egypt’s “assistance in the struggle with the extremists and the terrorists who threaten both the whole region and the peace which we all desire.”
Israel and Jordan have a history of cooperation on security issues. Relations were strained in 1997, during Mr. Netanyahu’s last term as prime minister, after a failed assassination attempt against a senior Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, carried out by Israeli agents on Jordanian soil.
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