President Abdel Fattah al Sisi met with Jordanian King Abdullah in Cairo, where the two discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict among other regional challenges. Following their meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed their continued support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while urging both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table. The Egyptian president and Jordanian King agreed to coordinate a united position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in a renewed effort to bolster their influence on advancing a political process to the conflict.
The meeting between the two leaders came just several days after media reports revealed a secret meeting that was held between the two leaders together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State John Kerry last year, in a failed attempt by the Obama administration to convene a wider regional summit on Israeli-Palestinian peace. A spokesman of the Israeli Prime Minister declined to comment on the report, which was published by Israel’s Ha’aretz daily, while President Sisi’s office issued a statement referring to it as having “incorrect information” but did not deny that a meeting took place. No immediate comment was available from Jordan.