May stresses ties to Arab world after Brexit
Prime minister says U.K. will stay engaged
AMMAN, Jordan — Britain is making a “new, ambitious and optimistic offer” of closer security and economic ties with Arab allies, the country’s prime minister said Thursday, the last day of a Mideast trip meant to bolster ties with the region before the U.K. leaves the European Union.
Theresa May pledged tens of millions of pounds in additional aid, singling out Jordan, and said Britain would negotiate a post-brexit trade deal with the pro-western kingdom.
In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech in Jordan’s capital, May also addressed the wars in Yemen and Syria and the long-running Israeli-palestinian conflict.
May called on a Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen to lift a sea and air blockade of the war-stricken country which has teetered on the brink of famine.
The coalition tightened the blockade earlier this month in response to a rebel missile launch toward the Saudi capital.
The British leader said that in talk- swith Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Wednesday, “we agreed that steps needed to be taken as a matter of urgency to address this.”
May has faced increasing calls to stopbritisharmssalestosaudiarabia. Britain has licensed more than $6.1 billion worth of arms sales to the kingdom since the war began.
Turning to the Israeli-palestinian conflict, May said that while incitement to violence and denial of Israel’s right to exist must stop, “those actions of the Israeli government which create an obstacle to peace — not least illegal settlement construction — must also stop.”
May’s three-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan was overshadowed by a row with President Donald Trump over his stoking of anti-islam sentiments.
In Thursday’s speech, she said Trump’s retweets of inflammatory anti-muslim videos by a “hateful” far-right British political group were “the wrong thing to do.”
But May dug in her heels over mounting calls to cancel Trump’s planned state visit to Britain. She said the visit was still on, though she suggested it was not imminent.
“An invitation for a state visit has been extended and has been accepted,” she said. “We have yet to set a date.
May’s speech came after a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, seen as a leading champion of religious tolerance and a partner in the campaign against Islamic militants.
The British leader reassured Arab allies that her country would remain engaged in the region in a post-brexit era, saying that “we are making a new, ambitious and optimistic offer of partnership.”
“To those who ask if the United Kingdom is in danger of stepping back from the world, I say nothing could be further from the truth,” she said.
May singled out Jordan, saying deeper security and economic ties with the kingdom were the centerpiece of her commitment.