The Arab Summit held in Jordan ended with the Arab States reaffirming their support to the Arab Peace Initiative while renewing their call for a two-state solution to the more than 50-year old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has taken the dimension of a dispute between the Jewish State and the Arab World.
“There can be no peace or stability in the region without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian Cause, the core issue of the Middle East, based on the two-state solution,” King Abdullah of Jordan said in his remarks before the Summit.
The summit sends a “message of peace”, according to Jordan while the joint communiqué outlined that “peace is a strategic option” for Arab states.
The Summit seems to send a message to the U.S. following President Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House. During his campaign, he promised to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem.
President Trump’s international envoy, Jason Greenblatt, who was at the summit, believes that reaching an agreement to end the conflict “is not only possible, but would reverberate positively throughout the region and the world.”
The Jordanian king, President al-Sisi of Egypt and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are to meet President Trump separately, in Washington. The three men met on the sidelines of the Summit to probably consolidate their position on the issues of common interest to be discussed with Trump.
Tel Aviv was closely monitoring the Summit proceedings and Cabinet minister Israel Katz said they are interested in “advancing initiatives to improve the conditions of the Palestinians” in the West Bank and Gaza as well as neutralizing shared security threats because a positive change in the regional climate “could lead in the future to peace.”
Observers have noted that reaching an agreement or holding talks with Palestine has not been a priority in Israel since President Trump’s election.
