US Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Amman on Saturday for the second leg of his Middle East tour, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
US Vice President Donald Trump’s visit to Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and was scheduled for late December, but was delayed by the anger raised by Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and cancel many scheduled meetings.
Pence plane landed at Marka airport in eastern Amman at around 22.15 hours local time, according to an AFP photographer.
Bens, who was accompanied by his wife Karin, will hold talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Sunday at the Husseiniya Palace in Amman, followed by a working lunch before flying to Israel for a visit on Monday and Tuesday.
The decision by US President Donald Trump on December 6 to consider the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a wave of rejection and condemnation in Jordan, which has been witnessing weeks of protests and protest activities of varying size and frequency denounced the decision.
The Jordanian government said on December 6 that the US president’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was “a violation of international legitimacy and the UN Charter” and warned of “serious repercussions” for the resolution.
“The international legitimacy and the UN Charter” affirm that the status of Jerusalem is to be negotiated, and all unilateral measures aimed at imposing new facts on the ground are null and void, “the official said in an official statement.
East Jerusalem followed the kingdom administratively before being occupied by Israel in 1967.
Israel, which signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, recognizes Jordan as an Islamic holy city.
Earlier in the day, Bens held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the presidential palace in the new suburb of Heliopolis.
Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Radhi said in a statement that the talks between Sisi and the US Vice President dealt with the issue of Jerusalem in the light of the decision to recognize it as the capital of Israel in preparation for the transfer of the US embassy.
“Egypt’s steadfast stance on the Palestinian issue and support for the rights of the Palestinian people to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the Egyptian president said.
“The settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will only be achieved through negotiations based on the two-state solution,” Sisi said, stressing the importance of the United States continuing to play its vital role in this regard.
Speaking to reporters after a bilateral meeting and before the extended meeting of the two delegations, Bens said he had held constructive discussions with the Egyptian president on a wide range of issues of mutual interest in relations between Egypt and the United States and the region.
The US vice president reiterated that the United States stood shoulder to shoulder with Egypt in the war on terrorism.
While the demonstrations and bloody confrontations have subsided in the Palestinian territories, there is concern over the fate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has frozen half the funds it allocates to it, or $ 65 million a year. Food, education and treatment programs benefiting millions of Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinian leadership, angered by the Jerusalem resolution, condemned the US administration and rejected a meeting in December.
In Gaza, Hamas denounced Pence’s “unwelcome” visit.
– Partners in the field of security –
The leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries associated with peace agreements with Israel, could be key players if US negotiators can revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which Trump is seeking.
They are also partners in security and intelligence sharing in secret and public US wars against Islamic extremism in the region.
Egypt is one of the largest countries to receive aid to purchase advanced US military equipment.
Sisi, one of Trump’s closest allies in the region, called on the US president before his declaration on Jerusalem to “make sure that the situation in the region is not complicated by actions that undermine the chances of peace in the Middle East.”
The imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, canceled his meeting with Pence in protest against Trump’s decision on Jerusalem.
The Pope of Egypt’s Copts also said that he would not meet Peres because of the decision taken by the American administration regarding Jerusalem and without regard for the feelings of millions of Arab peoples.
After Jordan, Pence will travel to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
He will address the Knesset and meet President Reuven Rivlin during his two-day visit.
A coalition of Arab parties in the Knesset announced on Saturday that he would boycott a letter from Pence, calling him a “dangerous man”, saying he had a vision of “destroying the region.”
Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 before annexing East Jerusalem in a move not recognized by the international community.
Israel insists that Jerusalem as a whole is its united capital while the Palestinians look to make East Jerusalem the capital of their desired state. The international community considers that Israel illegally occupied East Jerusalem. Embassies of all countries are located in the commercial capital of Tel Aviv.
The US State Department has begun planning to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, a process US diplomats say could take years to complete.
According to information published in newspapers this week, Washington may announce a temporary US embassy in Israel, while a search for a long-term mission is underway.
It could be controversial, such as building a completely new embassy, as the current building is the headquarters of the US Mission for the Occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Christian Bens will visit the Western Wall (Al-Buraq), one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites, and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.
