Jordan receives an Israeli president with military honours for the first time

Jordan’s King Abdullah called for calm following a historic summit with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday after the sharpest spike in street violence in years stoked fears of a wider escalation ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

Abdullah told Herzog after receiving him in the Husseiniya Palace in the first official visit by an Israeli head of state that peace was more pressing now to end a conflict that he said had “lasted too long.”

A palace statement said the king condemned “violence in all its forms”, including the latest attack on Tuesday in which an Arab gunman killed at least five people in a Tel Aviv suburb.

“We believe that the conflict has dragged on for far too long and you and I have discussed this,” the king told Herzog in the public portion of their talks.

“The violence it has produced continues to cause too much agony and provides unfortunate fertile ground to extremism on all sides.”

Herzog responded: “We must fight together any type of terror and cooperate together for the benefit of the security of our nations.

“As we enter the holy days for all three religions — Easter, Passover Pesach and of course Ramadan — we must move towards enabling everyone to practice their beliefs in safety, in security, in calm circumstances.”

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Israel’s nearly 55-year-old occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, has long weighed on relations between Israel and Jordan, who have been peace partners since 1994.

An Israeli statement said Abdullah offered Herzog his condolences to the victims’ families amid fears in both countries of a surge in assaults in the run-up in April to the holy month of Ramadan.

Wednesday saw the Israeli president received in Amman with a military honour guard and red carpet treatment.

It is the first time this has happened, even though the countries signed a peace deal and began diplomatic relations nearly 28 years ago.

Both countries have engaged in a flurry of top-level diplomatic and security talks in recent days to reduce tensions that Jordan fears could spiral with repercussions in a kingdom where many of its citizens are of Palestinian origin.