Pressured by U.S., Jordan's Abdullah meets Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and King Abdullah of Jordan ended more than a year of diplomatic near-silence yesterday when the two met at the royal palace in Amman, partially at U.S. President Barack Obama's urging.

	Netanyahu with Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman.
	Photo by: GPO

The meeting was organized by Mossad chief Meir Dagan. A senior government source also credited efforts by Washington to reduce Israel-Jordan tensions.

Netanyahu's last visit to Amman was in May 2009. Since then, he and Abdullah have barely even spoken by telephone, and their staffs rarely contact each other.

The crisis in relations with Jordan stems from both Abdullah's doubts about the sincerity of Netanyahu's desire for peace and Israeli actions in East Jerusalem over the last year. But Netanyahu was bullish after the meeting, saying he believes Abdullah is now convinced he truly seeks peace.

Several senior Israeli officials - headed by Dagan, who handles Israel's security relations with Jordan - worked quietly to arrange the meeting. A senior source in the Obama administration said the United States also worked hard to revive the relationship.

Last Friday, President Barack Obama called Abdullah personally, and the meeting with Netanyahu was apparently one of the topics discussed.

Netanyahu arrived in Amman at noon and stayed for over four hours. First, he and Abdullah met privately for about 90 minutes. Then they held consultations with their aides present, followed by a luncheon.

The prime minister reportedly sees Jordan as key to convincing the Palestinian Authority to enter direct talks with Israel, one of the topics of discussion.

The meeting was not made public until Netanyahu was on his way back to Jerusalem. Throughout the morning, journalists who asked his bureau about his plans for the day were given evasive answers.

Netanyahu even kept the news from all but a few senior ministers, and Israel's embassy in Jordan learned of the meeting only when Jordanian television reported it.

At the meeting, Netanyahu told Abdullah that if suitable security arrangements could be worked out in talks with the Palestinians, he would be willing to "go far" to reach an agreement on the core issues. These arrangements, he said, must be capable of dealing with a scenario in which Iraq again becomes a threat, as the Middle East contains "shifting sands," and any deal must be able to withstand such changes.

The two also agreed to expand bilateral economic cooperation.

All of Jordan's top government officials attended the meeting, including Prime Minister Samir Rifai, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Abdullah aide Ayman Safadi, intelligence chief Mohammed Raqqad and Abdullah's royal court chief, Nasser Lozi.

The Israeli participants included Dagan, National Security Advisor Uzi Arad and Netanyahu's military secretary, Yohanan Locker.

A senior government source said the meeting revealed many substantive differences on the Palestinian issue, but both sides worked hard to ensure that it would be a success. The Jordanians - unusually - even published a relatively moderate press statement about the event whose contents were coordinated with Netanyahu's staff.

The statement did not directly criticize Israel, nor did it mention hot-button issues like East Jerusalem or construction in the settlements. The only hint of the parties' disagreements came in one sentence, which said the king had urged Netanyahu to end "all unilateral actions that hinder achieving the two-state solution."

The two leaders, it continued, explored ways of creating the right atmosphere for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks aimed at establishing an "independent, viable Palestinian state" that would live in peace and security with Israel.

One of the meeting's chief goals was to try to restore trust between the two men. Abdullah's father, King Hussein, had no trust in Netanyahu during the latter's first term as premier, in 1996-99, so Abdullah inherited a negative impression.

His three months of working with Netanyahu after ascending the throne in 1999 did not improve that impression: In May 2009, he told the London Times those were the three most unpleasant months of his 10 years in office.

Netanyahu, in his press statement after the meeting, termed Abdullah's leadership important for "advancing peace and stability in the region."