(JNS.org) Jordan’s King Abdullah II appointed Hani Mulki, a politician known for his strong ties to Israel, as the new Jordanian prime minister. Mulki chaired the Jordanian government committee that negotiated peace with Israel from 1994-1996. He is expected to now join the effort to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Tareq al-Fayed, a journalist for London’s Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, said Mulki will have two major tasks while in office. “The first is to manage the news phase of the parliamentary elections and set the government’s political agenda. The second is to manage Israeli-Jordanian relations, which have seen tension over Israel’s policies and encroachment on the Palestinians in Jerusalem and against Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Fayed told Al Jazeera. Although Jordan in April accused Israeli police officers and Jewish visitors of storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to maintain the Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian status quo agreement of a ban on Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount.