Jordan, a constitutional monarchy, negotiates a delicate balancing act.
One in five people in Jordan, including the queen, are of Palestinian descent- The desire for Palestinian statehood and equal rights are close to the hearts of many locals. The country's rulers often speak out on the issue.
But Jordan is also closer to Israel and the US than many locals realize, experts say. In 1994, Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel and behind the scenes. The two nations work together on security-related issues, such as safety at theAl-Aqsa Mosque compound.
In 2021, the US and Jordan entered a defense cooperation agreement that allows US forces, vehicles and aircraft to enter and move around Jordan freely.
In April this year, when Jordan allegedly helped shoot down Iranian missiles crossing its airspace heading towards Israel, many locals saw it as a betrayal.
Jordan has diplomatic relations with Iran, but these tend to be chilly. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi's recent visit to Iran to discuss escalating tensions in the region was a rare occasion.
Neighboring Egypt, under the authoritarian government headed by Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, must also carefully balance its relationship with Israel.
Since signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, "Egypt has striven to balance its national interests, particularly related to insecurity in the Sinai, with support for the Palestinian cause," said a May report by the International Crisis Group, a think tank. "Concretely, this effort has meant rejecting any direct responsibility for the plight of people in Gaza while backing attempts to reach a diplomatic settlement based on the two-state solution."
Egyptian security and economic cooperation with Israel is commonplace, and up until the Gaza........