A Jordanian official says the talks at the Red Sea port of Aqaba are part of an effort to “stop a security collapse that could fuel more violence”.
Jordan will host a meeting between senior Israeli and Palestinian officials to halt a spate of deadly violence in the occupied West Bank that officials say has stoked fears of a further escalation.
Sunday’s meeting will be held in the Red Sea port of Aqaba and will be attended by representatives from the United States and Egypt.
The planned talks come days after a raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus that killed 11 Palestinians. The death toll in Wednesday’s raid was the highest since the second intifada of 2000-2005.
The escalating violence has killed 62 Palestinian adults and children since the beginning of this year. Ten Israelis and one Ukrainian tourist have died in the same period. The United Nations, meanwhile, said last year was the deadliest time for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2006, when Israeli forces killed 171 Palestinians, including 30 children, during that period.
A Jordanian government official told AFP that “Sunday’s security policy meeting is part of Jordan’s increased ongoing efforts, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority and other parties, to end unilateral measures [by Israel] and a security collapse that could fuel more violence.”
The talks aim to agree on “security and economic measures to alleviate the plight of the Palestinian people,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.
Portal news agency quoted an unnamed Jordanian official as saying that “a meeting like this has not taken place in years… Bringing them together is a great achievement.”
Earlier this month, Jordan’s King Abdullah met US President Joe Biden and held talks with his Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, during which Washington – a staunch ally of Israel, Egypt and Jordan – warned of the threats to regional security and advocated a resumption of the Talks on Palestinian statehood stalled. Officials say McGurk will attend Sunday’s meeting.
King Abdullah also met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jordan’s capital Amman in January.
The king stressed “the need to keep calm and stop all acts of violence,” it said at the time from the royal palace.
Abdullah also reiterated Jordan’s position in support of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians to end the decades-long conflict.
Concerned about forced Jewish settlements, Jordan has accused Israel of trying to change the status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites. Israel denies the allegation.
In the 1967 Middle East War, Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas the Palestinians aspire to for an independent state.
Talks on Palestinian statehood have stalled for nearly a decade.