Jordan king calls for Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem

King Abdullah II of Jordan. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah has affirmed his support for establishing a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, highlighting his differences with the administration of US President Donald Trump on a central issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The king spoke at the start of a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who also expressed concern about Trump’s recognition last month of contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“I think there are very good reasons to question the theory that unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would contribute to the consolidation of peace in the Middle East,” Steinmeier was quoted as telling the Jordanian daily Al-Ghad in an interview published on Sunday.
One of the pillars of Germany’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “is the need to preserve the status of holy sites and to negotiate the final status of Jerusalem within the framework of the two-state solution,” Steinmeier, a former foreign minister, told Al-Ghad.
Jordan’s king serves as custodian of a major Muslim site in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.
“I think our views on Palestine and Jerusalem are well known to you,” the king told the German president on Sunday. “We do believe in a two-state solution, with (East) Jerusalem as a capital for the Palestinians.”
The king has stopped short of siding with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who said after Trump’s dramatic policy shift on Jerusalem that Washington can no longer serve as the sole mediator between Israelis and Palestinians.
The king received US Vice President Mike Pence last week, and has said the US remains an indispensable broker.
US officials have stressed repeatedly that the Jerusalem recognition has no impact on negotiations over the borders or sovereignty of the holy city.
Steinmeier is on a four-day visit to Jordan and Lebanon. On Monday, he is to visit the Azraq camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan and a nearby air base by the same name where some 300 German troops are stationed as part of the US-led international military campaign against Daesh in Jordan.

Germany, which has absorbed hundreds of thousands of Syrian war refugees, has stepped up efforts in recent years to help improve conditions for refugees in regional host countries.
About 660,000 registered Syrian refugees live in Jordan, though Jordanian authorities say the actual number is double that.
Germany has given €595 million ($740 million) in bilateral humanitarian and development aid to Jordan in 2017, up from €470 million in 2016, embassy officials said.