A day after phoning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to wish him
well on the festival marking the end of Ramadan, Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu picked up the phone Sunday and called Jordan’s King Abdullah II with
the same holiday wishes.
Phone calls between Netanyahu and Abbas or
Abdullah are not a common occurrence.
The Prime Minister’s Office issued
a statement saying that Netanyahu told Abdullah “the relations between the
Hashemite Kingdom and Israel were important for regional stability.”
No
further details of that conversation were made public.
It is unlikely
that Netanyahu will phone new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy with an Id
al-Fitr greeting, one official said, because they have no
relationship.
Even if the prime minister would place such a call, it is
highly unlikely it would be made public.
Last month, after President
Shimon Peres sent a holiday greeting to Morsy on the eve of Ramadan, the
Egyptian president sent a brief note back to Peres, marking his first formal
contact with Israeli leaders.
However, when the existence of that note
was made public in Egypt, a spokesman for Morsy quickly – and to the incredulity
of Peres’s office – denied the note was ever sent.
Opposition leader
Shaul Mofaz, meanwhile, called Abbas on Sunday with his own holiday
greeting.
“In these days of regional change and uncertainty, it is our
duty to create hope for both our peoples,” Mofaz told Abbas. “The fact that the
peace process is at an impasse serves the extremists on both sides and not the
desires of the Palestinian and Israeli majority.”
Mofaz said that it was
time to “move forward” and solve the differences between the two sides. The
Kadima leader and Abbas agreed to set up a faceto- face meeting in the near
future. Abbas canceled a meeting with Mofaz in June when the Kadima head served
briefly in Netanyahu’s government as vice premier.
Jerusalem Post staff
contributed to this report.