Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland visited Amman, Ramallah and Jerusalem on 27-29 May. In Amman, on 27 May, Mr Jagland met with King Abdullah II, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, the Speaker of the Senate Taher Al Masri and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Abed Kareem Doghmei.

On 28 May the Secretary General met in Ramallah with Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad.

The Secretary General then visited Jerusalem from 29 May where he met with President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. They discussed prospects of reinforced cooperation between the Council of Europe and Israel in the context of the Council of Europe neighbourhood policy, and the situation in the region.

Mr. Jagland also met with the Speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin, and with the President of the Supreme Court, Asher Dan Grunis.

The Secretary General signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between Council of Europe and Yad Vashem. He laid a wreath at the Yad Vashem’s Hall of Remembrance.

Press release announcing the visit