King Abdullah of Jordan arrived in Ramallah on Monday for a rare visit to the West Bank, as the Palestinians pursue statehood in a region riveted by the slide towards civil war in Syria and mounting unrest in Egypt. Abdullah, a critic of the deadlock in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, flew the short distance from his capital, Amman, by helicopter and went directly into talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It was his first visit to the West Bank since 2000, when Abbas's predecessor the late Yasser Arafat was the undisputed Palestinian leader. Abbas, by contrast, faces a challenge from the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The Jordanian delegation called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to renew peace talks with Israel. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said his country backed efforts by the Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia - to end the current stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. Judeh told a news conference at Abbas' headquarters "We support the resumption of direct negotiations, because the goal is to guarantee the creation of an independent Palestinian state." This was as Jordanian King Abdullah II visited the West Bank for the first time in 11 years.
