‘Long and warm meeting’: Lapid visits King Abdullah in Amman

The leaders reportedly agreed to continue deepening the ties and dialogue between their countries on various issues.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Prime Minister Yair Lapid met Wednesday with King Abdullah II at his palace in Amman in what was the first public meeting between the Jordanian monarch and an Israeli prime minister in the Jordanian capital in five years.

The meeting was “long and warm” and included a lunch with the king and the Israeli delegation, Lapid’s spokesperson said in a press release.

“The two leaders discussed the many opportunities to build on the peace agreements, improve the long-standing link between their peoples and strengthen the two countries’ common interests,” the spokesperson said.

They “also discussed the importance of their personal ties and their mutual esteem as an important element in maintaining regional stability and presenting tangible achievements to the two peoples and to the entire region.”

Also on the agenda was U.S. President Joe Biden’s  recent visit to Israel and the region and plans for bilateral projects. These include advancing the Jordan Gateway Industrial Park, building facilities for solar energy in Jordan and for desalination in Israel, joint tourism in the Gulf of Eilat-Aqaba, food security, agriculture and transportation links.

The leaders agreed to continue deepening the ties and dialogue between their countries on various issues, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, a group of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish tourists was denied entry into Jordan on Tuesday. They claimed that Jordanian border guards demanded that they cut off their sidelocks.