Jordan’s King Abdullah II landed in Ramallah on Monday to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, on his first trip to the occupied West Bank since 2017, Abbas’s office said.
Abdullah’s visit comes as foreign ministers from four Arab states joined an unprecedented meeting hosted in Israel, a gathering Israel hailed as “historic”, following a series of normalisation agreements last year, which angered the Palestinians.
An official welcoming ceremony is held for His Majesty King Abdullah II and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein at the Palestinian presidency in Ramallah#Jordan #Palestine 🇯🇴🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/vbCK9ClZv0
— RHC (@RHCJO) March 28, 2022
The visit also comes less than a week before Ramadan, the Muslim holy month which last year saw waves of violence across the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
The Jordanian king met Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid earlier this month to discuss strategies for containing unrest during Ramadan.
King Abdullah II of Jordan (C-L) and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C-R) gesture during the welcoming ceremony in the West Bank town of Ramallah, 28 March 2022.
📸 epa / Alaa Badarneh#epaimages #epaphotos #Ramallah pic.twitter.com/ZFKMz9JdCj— european pressphoto agency (@epaphotos) March 28, 2022
Palestinian officials have repeatedly warned that the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967, was on the verge of “exploding”.
Tensions in the occupied territory remain high between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
(The New Arab, PC, Social Media)
