Israeli president to visit Jordan on Wednesday

JERUSALEM

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will visit Jordan on Wednesday for talks with King Abdullah II, according to Israeli media.

Herzog will visit Amman upon an invitation from the Jordanian monarch to discuss "deepening Israeli-Jordanian relations, maintaining regional stability with an emphasis on the upcoming holiday period," his office said in a statement.

Jordanian authorities have yet to confirm the Israeli president’s visit.

Early on Tuesday, the Jordanian king met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz in Amman for talks on Palestinian developments ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and to arrange Herzog's visit.

Jordan normalized its relations with Israel in 1994, becoming the second Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv after Egypt in 1979.

In 2020, four Arab countries – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco – signed US-sponsored agreements to normalize relations with Israel, in what Palestinians considered a “stab in the back”.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara