Israel, Jordan try to rebuild ties, trust after Netanyahu

Jordan is yet to react to the June 13 formation of a new Israeli government that ended Benyamin’s Netanyahu’s 12-year hold on power. Under Netanyahu, relations between the two neighbors, who had signed a peace treaty 26 years ago, had dipped to their worst level. The decline was not restricted to political issues but economic areas as well. It was no secret that King Abdullah had lost trust in Netanyahu who, in Amman’s view, violated every agreement and understanding reached with Jordan over the years. 

But Amman is yet to comment on the swearing-in of a new coalition government headed, for now, by right-wing politician Naftali Bennett. While his coalition includes leftist and centrist parties, including one representing Palestinian citizens of Israel for the first time, Bennett’s political background and his right-wing ideology are seen by observers here as potentially even worse than those of Netanyahu, especially when it comes to the building of settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and the new prime minister's public rejection of the two-state solution.