Israeli PM Netanyahu meets Jordan King Abdullah II in Amman

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman to discuss regional developments in a quick visit to the Jordanian capital.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to maintaining the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said on Monday.

Jordan is the official custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

According to Jordan’s official news agency Petra, King Abdullah II stressed that Jerusalem is as important for Muslims and Christians is as it is for Jews and that the issue of the holy city must be settled within final status agreements on the basis of a two-state solution.

A number of bilateral issues were discussed in the meeting, in addition to advancing the two-state solution as “the only way to achieve peace and stability in the region.”

The Palestinian Authority government has long advocated for a state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as their capital, but many Palestinians view this as an impossible solution, due to the continuous Israeli construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu’s visit came ahead of an official visit by Jason Greenblatt, the US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East peace process, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, to the region.

Last month, Trump officially relocated Washington’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in a controversial move that angered Palestinians and sparked widespread international condemnation.

The US delegation’s trip includes stops in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.