Arab summit endorses Palestinian state with eye on US
Arab leaders gathered Wednesday for an annual summit where the call for Palestinian statehood is to take center stage. Wednesday's summit aimed to endorse key Palestinian positions, signaling to President Donald Trump ahead of White House meetings with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan that a deal on Palestinian statehood must precede any Israeli-Arab normalization.
The relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was also on the agenda. A draft statement opposes plans by President Trump to move Washington's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and consider alternatives to a Palestinian state.
The relocation is strongly opposed by many U.S. allies as the Palestinians also claim the city as their capital. While Israel claimed the city as its "eternal capital" after occupying East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israel war, the international community does not recognize the claim and foreign embassies are currently located in Tel Aviv. During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Trump's team spoke often about moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. But since taking office, the contentious issue appears to have moved to the backburner.
Jordan's king has told the opening session of an Arab summit that there can be no peace or stability in the region without setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel. King Abdullah II, who hosted Wednesday's gathering of 21 Arab leaders, said the Palestinian quest for statehood remains the central issue in the Middle East.
Jordan has a large Palestinian population and also serves as custodian of a major Muslim-run shrine in Jerusalem that is also Judaism's holiest site. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been a scene of frequent Israeli-Palestinian tensions, including clashes. Palestinians fear Israel wants to divide it, a charge Israel denies. Jordan's monarch says "we will continue to fight any attempts to change the status quo" at the site.
Syria's Bashar al-Assad has not been invited to the summit since 2011, when the brutal repression of anti-government protests led to armed conflict involving world powers. Saudi Arabia supports the Syrian opposition, while the Gulf heavyweight's main regional rival Iran backs the Assad forces.
Ahead of the summit, the U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called on Arab leaders to set aside their differences to confront Syria's war, which is estimated to have killed more than 320,00 people and displaced millions.
Also on the agenda is the Yemen conflict, which escalated in 2015 with the military intervention of a Saudi-led coalition in support of embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Riyadh accuses Tehran of backing the Shiite Houthi rebels in the war that has killed more than 7,700 people since March 2015 and left parts of the impoverished country on the brink of famine.
The relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was also on the agenda. A draft statement opposes plans by President Trump to move Washington's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and consider alternatives to a Palestinian state.
The relocation is strongly opposed by many U.S. allies as the Palestinians also claim the city as their capital. While Israel claimed the city as its "eternal capital" after occupying East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israel war, the international community does not recognize the claim and foreign embassies are currently located in Tel Aviv. During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Trump's team spoke often about moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. But since taking office, the contentious issue appears to have moved to the backburner.
Jordan's king has told the opening session of an Arab summit that there can be no peace or stability in the region without setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel. King Abdullah II, who hosted Wednesday's gathering of 21 Arab leaders, said the Palestinian quest for statehood remains the central issue in the Middle East.
Jordan has a large Palestinian population and also serves as custodian of a major Muslim-run shrine in Jerusalem that is also Judaism's holiest site. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been a scene of frequent Israeli-Palestinian tensions, including clashes. Palestinians fear Israel wants to divide it, a charge Israel denies. Jordan's monarch says "we will continue to fight any attempts to change the status quo" at the site.
Syria's Bashar al-Assad has not been invited to the summit since 2011, when the brutal repression of anti-government protests led to armed conflict involving world powers. Saudi Arabia supports the Syrian opposition, while the Gulf heavyweight's main regional rival Iran backs the Assad forces.
Ahead of the summit, the U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called on Arab leaders to set aside their differences to confront Syria's war, which is estimated to have killed more than 320,00 people and displaced millions.
Also on the agenda is the Yemen conflict, which escalated in 2015 with the military intervention of a Saudi-led coalition in support of embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Riyadh accuses Tehran of backing the Shiite Houthi rebels in the war that has killed more than 7,700 people since March 2015 and left parts of the impoverished country on the brink of famine.