Pence lands in Israel as PM stresses ‘no alternative’ to US as peace broker

US President Mike Pence arrived in Tel Aviv Sunday evening for a two-day visit to Israel amid unprecedented tensions with the Palestinians over President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last month.

Pence and his wife, Karen, were greeted on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport by Tourism Minister Yariv Levin along with a small group of dignitaries including US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and his Israeli counterpart in the US, Ron Dermer.

Initially scheduled for December before being postponed, Pence’s visit to Israel is the final leg of a trip that included stops in Egypt and Jordan as well as a visit earlier in the day to a US military facility near the Syrian border.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Pence to Israel in a Facebook post, and later at an event for foreign diplomats, hailing the vice president as a “great friend of Israel.”

Netanyahu also stressed that “there is no alternative” to the United States as a peacebroker, and that anyone who rejects the US as a peacebroker “does not want peace.” This was a reference to the Palestinian Authority’s declared refusal to have any dealings with the Trump administration’s peace team since Trump’s Jerusalem declaration on December 6.

“I have a message for [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas: There is no alternative to American leadership in the diplomatic process. Whoever is not ready to talk with the Americans on peace does not want peace,” he said.

Welcomed by Netanyahu and Israeli leaders across most of the political spectrum, Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem infuriated the Palestinians, who seek the Israeli-annexed eastern sectors of the city as a future capital. They accused the US of siding with Israel, and Abbas said the move disqualified Washington from acting as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Over the weekend, Pence sought to reassure Jordan’s King Abdullah II that the Trump administration would continue working toward Israeli-Palestinian peace, and views Amman as a central player.

Pence told the king on Sunday morning that “President Trump made a historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but as he also made clear in that decision… we continue to respect Jordan’s role as the custodian of holy sites, that we take no position on boundaries and final status — those are subject to negotiation — and as I’ve made clear and the president made clear to the world: the United States of America remains committed if the parties agree to a two-state solution.” It was a message Pence had also relayed Saturday during talks with Egypt’s president.

Later Sunday, after meeting US troops near the Syrian border, Pence later told reporters that he and Abdullah had “a very frank discussion,” and had “agreed to disagree” on the US pivot on Jerusalem.

Pence said he and Abdullah agreed on the need for Israelis and Palestinians to restart peace talks.

After Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem, Abbas said he would not meet with 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 until midday Sunday, when the Palestinian leader flew to Brussels for a meeting with European Union foreign ministers Monday. There, Abbas is expected to urge EU member states to recognize a state of Palestine in the pre-1967 lines, and to step up their involvement in mediation.

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

According to Bloomberg, Pence during his visit asked the governments of Jordan and Egypt to reach out to the Palestinians on behalf of the administration.

Pence will meet with Netanyahu on Monday, before addressing the country’s parliament, the Knesset, later in the day — a speech that Israeli Arab lawmakers will boycott.

On Tuesday, he will visit Jerusalem’s Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, before departing.

Agencies contributed to this report.