Jordan cancels summit with Biden, Sisi and Abbas in Amman

Jordan cancels Amman summit, blames Israel for Gaza hospital blast and pushing the region 'to the brink of the abyss'

Reuters October 18, 2023

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attends a joint press conference, in Amman, Jordan, July 27, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS

Jordan has cancelled a summit it was to host in Amman on Wednesday with US President Joe Biden and the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss Gaza, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

Safadi said the meeting would be held at a time when the parties could agree to end the "war and the massacres against Palestinians", blaming Israel with its military campaign for pushing the region to "the brink of the abyss."

Biden was expected to make a whirlwind trip to Israel where he would later head to Jordan and according to Jordanian officials meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Jordan's King Abdullah would have hosted the four-way summit, which would have on its agenda the need to get humanitarian assistance to Gaza to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and tamp down the conflict with Israel.

Abdullah has blamed Israel for a blast at a Gaza hospital that killed about 500 Palestinians on Tuesday, saying it was a "shame on humanity" and called on Israel to immediately end its military campaign against Gaza. Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed each other for the deaths.

The monarch warned that Israel's response following a deadly cross border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 that killed and injured more than 1,000 Israelis went beyond the right of self-defence to collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.

The outpouring of anger against Israel also fuelled a large rally on Tuesday near the Israeli embassy in Amman, where police used tear gas to disperse several thousand protesters who chanted slogans in support of Hamas and demanded the government close the embassy and scrap a peace treaty with Israel.

Jordan's peace treaty with Israel is widely unpopular among many citizens who see normalisation as a sellout of the rights of their Palestinian brethren.

The Israeli embassy, where protesters gather daily, has long been a flashpoint of anti-Israel protests at times of turmoil in the Palestinian territories.

Earlier, dozens of youths attempted to storm the heavily guarded compound but security forces used tear gas to break them up. Several protesters were arrested.