i24NEWS
April 07, 2021, 03:30 PM
AP/Raad Adayleh 2016 ©King Abdullah II of Jordan, (right,) meets with then-US Vice President Joe Biden, at the Husseiniya Palace in Amman, Jordan, on March 10, 2016.
President’s conversation with King Abdullah comes amid internal strife in Hashemite Kingdom’s royal palace
In a call Wednesday between US President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the American leader reiterated his country’s strong support for the Hashemite Kingdom’s monarchy.
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Biden underscored the importance of Abdullah’s leadership to the United States and the region; increasingly important in the last few days as rumors of a coup swept the royal palace. The king’s half-brother Prince Hamza bin al-Hussein, said late on Saturday he was being held under house arrest, although he denied any role in the alleged plot to overthrow the monarch.
Together they discussed the strong bilateral ties between Jordan and the United States, Jordan’s important role in the region, and strengthening bilateral cooperation on multiple political, economic, and security issues, according to a readout of the call.
Asked about the situation in Jordan during press questions following a policy speech on infrastructure, Biden said that he remained unconcerned about the situation in Jordan.
In addition, the veteran Democratic politician reaffirmed his support for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
That statement arrived on the heels of the US State Department announcing that it was reinstating some $235 million in aid to the Palestinians. “This includes $75 million in economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza, $10 million for peacebuilding programs through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and $150 million in humanitarian assistance for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA),” according to the department statement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman maintained that “The relationship between the United States and UNRWA is a long‑standing one. We hope that others will now follow suit. There were a number of countries that had greatly reduced or halted contributions to UNRWA. We hope that the American decision will lead others to re‑join UNRWA as UNRWA donors.”
Meanwhile, Jerusalem was unsurprisingly disappointed at the Biden administration’s decision. Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations Gilad Erdan tweeted that UNRWA is an “antisemitic agency that incites against Israel and uses a twisted definition of who is a ‘refugee.’ Rather than solving the conflict, UNRWA perpetuates it.”
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