Meeting Abbas, Jordan foreign minister warns against annexation
Ayman Safadi visits Ramallah to coordinate moves against Israel’s annexation plans in occupied West Bank, Jordan Valley. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has warned Israel’s plan to annex large parts of the occupied Palestinian territories would pose an “unprecedented danger” and have wider consequences for peace in the region. His comments on Thursday came during a visit to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “within the framework of continuous coordination and consultation” between the two sides on the annexation issue. The trip is part of efforts spearheaded by Jordan against Israel’s plans to annex illegally-built Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well as the water-rich Jordan Valley, moves greenlighted by the United States as part of a controversial plan unveiled by President Donald Trump in January.
The Palestinians rejected Trump’s proposal as utterly biased in favour of Israel.
“The position I carried with me today has been the kingdom’s permanent historic position to stand with our Palestinian brothers and their right to freedom and to establish their Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Safadi told a joint news conference alongside his Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki.
“We have said in the past that annexation means that Israel had chosen conflict over peace and it alone bear the responsibility of its decisions,” he added, calling the issue of annexation “an unprecedented danger to the peace process”. “Consequences [of the annexation] are not only on the Israeli-Jordanian ties but also on the entire peace efforts in the region,” Safadi said. Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab countries to have peace agreements with Israel. On Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II addressed US congressional leaders via video conference to discuss Jordan-US strategic ties and to rally support against the planned annexation. Abdullah reiterated the Jordanian stance on the importance of “establishing an independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian state”, according to a statement by the royal court. The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it could begin the annexation process from July 1. The planned move would deprive Palestinians of key agricultural land and water resources, especially in the Jordan Valley region. It would also effectively kill the twostate solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict that was based on the idea of land for peace.