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King Abdullah: No resolution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict without US role

“We’ve been at this for a while and looking at this always as a glass half-full. We have to give the Americans the benefit of the doubt,” said the Jordanian leader.

Donald Trump, King Abdullah II
Jordan’s King Abdullah (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump walk along the West Colonnade toward the podiums before a joint press briefing at the White House on April 5, 2017. Credit: White House/Shealah Craighead.

Jordan’s King Abdullah stated on Thursday that there will be no peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without America playing a mediating role in the process.

“We cannot have a peace process or peace solution without the role of the United States,” Abdullah said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The king also urged Arab leaders to “reserve judgment” regarding America’s role in the peace process, despite the recent U.S. policy changes on Jerusalem being a “complication,” because the Trump administration has yet to reveal the details of its peace plan.

“The subject of Jerusalem has to be part of a comprehensive solution for Israel and the Palestinians,” said Abdullah, adding that he imagines “that the two-state solution we envision is not the two-state solution the Americans have in mind.”

Abdullah also ruled out the possibility of a one-state solution.

“We’ve been at this for a while and looking at this always as a glass half-full. We have to give the Americans the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

The king’s statements came several days after he met with Vice President Mike Pence in Amman for talks centered on the Jerusalem issue and the Middle East peace process.

The president did not say where the negotiations would take place.
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