A year ago, Israel, Jordan and Egypt secretly met for peace

occupied jerusalem — Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly a year ago with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan in a failed attempt by the Obama administration to convene a wider regional summit on Israeli-Palestinian peace, Israel’s Haaretz daily said on Sunday.

At the White House on Wednesday, Netanyahu again raised the possibility of what he described as a “regional approach” to Israeli-Palestinian peace at a news conference with US President Donald Trump, who appeared to embrace the idea.

Citing unidentified senior officials in former US President Barack Obama’s administration, Haaretz said Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah and US Secretary of State John Kerry convened on February 21, 2016 in the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba.

But the initiative to involve other Arab states in the pursuit of peace with the Palestinians ultimately fizzled, the newspaper said, after Netanyahu withdrew his initial support, pointing to opposition within his right-wing government.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not attend the Aqaba meeting but was updated by Kerry, Haaretz said. At a meeting with ministers from his Likud party, Netanyahu acknowledged the meeting took place, though he said it was his own initiative to try and bring about a regional summit, according to a cabinet member present, who declined to be identified.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, said he believed a Middle East peace push was possible. “My country stands ready together with other Arab countries to work and to see how we can promote that,” Al Jubeir said.

Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, also at the Munich conference, said he supported the creation of a Palestinian state. “The end game is no doubt a twostate solution,” Lieberman said.