"It says here..."

Coming to you, from YNet, via The Tablet, it says here that "Palestinian and Israeli representatives will meet in Jordan in two months to promote the peace process, King Abdullah II said during a UK visit which included a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron."

Yup, I'm sceptical as well, but a major Jordanian newspaper, Al-Hayat, has it from King Abdullah II of Jordan, so it must be true. Or not, as the case may be.

The paper also quoted the king as saying "the meeting will be held under the auspices of the European Union and the United States. He expressed his desire to see Washington focus on putting "the peace process on the right track."" Well, we all know that previous US Administrations from lbj onwards (with the probable exception of the peanut farmer) have been in favour of this "right track". The real question is are the Palestinians in favour of this? Snoopy just a day or so ago suggested not.

However, as the nearest neighbour they've got, and with Assad in Syria in possibly terminal decline, maybe Jordan and Abdullah can pull it off. Jordan could certainly do with stability on their western border, 'cos they certainly don't have it to the north and east. And maybe Abbas took just the message from Netanyahu's announcement about housing in Area E1 that I suggested a couple of days ago that he (Bibi) might be trying to send: "you don't want these houses built? Come to the negotiating table in good faith, and we'll see what we can do". After all, other commentators have said the Israeli bureaucratic hoops are such that it will be a couple of years before anyone thinks of even breaking soil for the first properties to be built.

It's also fascinating to note that, further down the article, Abdullah is reported as being, while using diplomatic language, extremely rude about Morsi and Assad, so who knows, maybe it is as reported.

By: Brian Goldfarb