U.S. President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House today, a day after suggesting that he may withhold aid from Jordan and Egypt if they do not agree to take in Palestinians from Gaza. The visit also comes as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas looks increasingly precarious and after Trump doubled down on his declaration that the U.S. should empty Gaza of all its Palestinian inhabitants and take control of the territory. (AP)
Our Take
As a U.S. partner that for a long time was one of the only countries in the Middle East to have diplomatic relations with Israel, Jordan has long played an outsized role in U.S. regional diplomacy. Jordan also has a significant stake in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: It hosts more than 2 million Palestinian refugees, and a majority of Jordan’s population—including Queen Rania—is of Palestinian descent. Put simply, any development in the conflict directly affects Jordan.
As such, Jordan’s diplomatic priority has for decades been to push for decision-making that ideally advances Palestinians’ aspirations for self-determination and statehood, but in the absence of that remains calm, stable and conciliatory. Often it has had to make due with neither, but rarely to the degree it must do so right now.
