Following a trilateral meeting between the top diplomats of Jordan and Egypt, together with the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, the three urged President Donald Trump to avoid taking “unilateral steps in Jerusalem,” but in an unprecedented move, declared east Jerusalem as the ‘capital of Palestine’. The move by Jordan and Egypt, the only Arab countries that have peace agreements with the Jewish state, was perceived in Jerusalem as a calculated regional effort to exert pressure on President Donald Trump, ahead of his visit, to avoid taking unilateral steps in Israel’s favor.
