Jordan Reportedly Turns Down All of Netanyahu’s Attempts to Communicate with King Abdullah

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a meeting, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported, citing an anonymous source. The media outlet noted that the monarch had also turned down a subsequent request for a telephone conversation with Netanyahu. Another source in the prime minister’s office denied the report.   According to the newspaper, the reason for turning it down was the poor state of bilateral relations in light of a scandal where Israeli citizens broke the law in Jordan by unlawfully conducting religious rituals at Aaron’s Tomb, which has since been closed to visitors.   Another point of discord for Jordan is reportedly the US “deal of the century” plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Following a meeting with its author, the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, King Abdullah stated that so-called ‘peace’ must be achieved by the “creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”.