AMMAN — Jordan’s King Abdullah expressed concern on Sunday over a decision by Washington to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying East Jerusalem had to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.

In remarks during talks with US Vice Mike Pence in Amman, the king said the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a two-state one.

Jordan lost East Jerusalem and the West Bank to Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

US endorsement of Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital broke with decades of US policy that the city’s status must be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

King Abdullah said the US move would fuel radicalism and inflame Muslim and Christian tensions.

“For us, Jerusalem is key to Muslims and Christians, as it is to Jews. It is key to peace in the region and key to enabling Muslims to effectively fight some of our root causes of radicalization,” he said.

The vice president said after meeting Saturday with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi that he emphasized the US commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Pence said he assured El-Sissi the US was committed to “preserving the status quo with regard to holy sites in Jerusalem,” and that borders and other issues would be negotiated between the parties.

“The United States of America is deeply committed to restarting the peace process in the Middle East,” Pence said before departing for Jordan. He said he would be “delivering that message in Jordan, delivering that message in Israel, as well.”

El-Sissi said in a statement after the meeting that he affirmed Egypt’s “unyielding position” in support of the Palestinians’ right to establish an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital. He said the conflict could only be resolved through negotiations leading to a two-state solution.

Israel views Jerusalem as its unified capital, while the Palestinians demand east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as the capital of their future state. A longstanding international consensus holds that the city’s final status should be decided through negotiations, which was also US policy going back decades.

Arab and Muslim nations support the Palestinians’ claim to east Jerusalem, and the Trump administration’s shift ignited protests across the region.

Ahead of Pence’s arrival, several dozen Jordanians gathered outside the US Embassy in Amman, protesting against US policies in the Middle East.

“America is the head of the snake,” they chanted. Some held up a banner reading: “The envoy of the Zionist American right-wing is not welcome.”

The Trump administration’s dramatic policy shift on Jerusalem has posed a dilemma for Jordan’s monarch, a staunch US ally.

Palestinians make up a large segment of Jordan’s population, and the ruling Hashemite monarchy derives some of its political legitimacy from its historic role as custodian of Jerusalem’s main Muslim shrine, the Al-Aqsa mosque, which is Islam’s third holiest site.

Any perceived threats to Muslim claims to the city, such as Trump’s shift on Jerusalem, undermine its vital role there. — AP

At the same time, Jordan relies on US military and economic aid — $1.5 billion in 2015 and $1.6 billion last year — at a time of a worsening economic downturn and rising unemployment.

Palestinians view Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as a blatantly one-sided move and have ruled out continued US mediation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not meet with Trump administration officials and called off a meeting with Pence that had been scheduled for mid-December.

In a new expression of that snub, Abbas overlapped with Pence in Jordan from Saturday evening to midday Sunday, when the Palestinian leader is to fly to Brussels for a meeting with EU foreign ministers. There, Abbas is expected to urge EU member states to recognize a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands captured by Israel in 1967, and to step up involvement in mediation.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an Abbas adviser, reiterated Sunday that “the US is no longer acceptable as a mediator.”

“Any plan from any side should be based on the basic references, which are the UN resolutions on the establishment of a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with east Jerusalem as a capital, and the Arab Peace Initiative, which addresses many issues, including the issue of refugees,” he said.

“Any plan that is not based on the international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative will not be acceptable, neither by the Palestinians nor the Arabs.” — AP