Leaked: Netanyahu secretly visited Jordan to advance peace with the Palestinians

The Israel’s PM traveled last week to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II, according to AFP, to discuss ways to advance peace with the Palestinians.

The PM’s office refused to confirm that meeting took place.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited Jordan last week and met with King Abdullah II to discuss ways to advance Middle East peace, AFP reported on Saturday.

King Abdulla II and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Jordan’s King Abdulla II, right, meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Royal Palace at Port City of Aqaba, May 14, 2009. – Photo by Reuters

An unnamed diplomatic source told the French news agency that the two heads of state discussed ways to renew peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Prime Minister’s Office refused to confirm that the meeting took place.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were briefly renewed in 2010, but failed to advance after Netanyahu refused to extend a 10-month settlement construction freeze in the West Bank.

The visit reported by AFP is Netanyahu’s second visit to Jordan in the past few months. In December, Senior Israeli officials confirmed that Netanyahu met King Abdullah earlier that month to discuss the ongoing civil war in Syria and President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile.

Also in December, Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg reported in The Atlantic that Israel has asked Jordan twice in the two previous months for a green light to strike Assad’s chemical weapons facilities in Syria.

 

View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-netanyahu-secretly-visited-jordan-to-discuss-peace-with-palestinians-1.506763