Jordan king in rare West Bank trip seen as message to Israel
Source: Associated Press
Karin Laub and Iyad Moghrabi, Associated Press
Updated 7:50 am, Monday, August 7, 2017
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Jordan's king flew by helicopter to the West Bank on Monday — a rare visit seen as a signal to Israel that he is closing ranks with the Palestinians on key issues, such as a contested Jerusalem shrine.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Abdullah II met for about two hours, after a red-carpet welcome for the monarch at the Palestinian government compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Abbas thanked the king for efforts made on behalf of the Palestinians, including during the shrine crisis, said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh. Abdullah expressed support for Abbas and the Palestinians, the spokesman said.
The monarch's West Bank visit, his first in five years, came at a time of rising Israeli-Jordanian and Israeli-Palestinian tensions over the shrine, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
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