Jordan warns Israel over effect of annexation on peace in the region
King Abdullah warned Israel that any unilateral moves to annex territory in the occupied West Bank would fuel instability in the Middle East.
The Jordanian monarch told British politicians the only path to lasting peace in the region required an independent Palestinian state to be established, based on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
The Palestinian state would have occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.
King Abdullah said any Israeli move to annex land in the West Bank would be unacceptable.
Jordan is leading a diplomatic campaign, backed by most European countries, that opposes Israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
The US supported annexation in a Middle East peace plan released by the Trump administration in January.
In May, King Abdullah, a staunch US ally, said annexing the occupied West Bank territories would put Israel on course for a “massive conflict” with Jordan.
Amman lost much of the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Israel during the 1967 war and Israeli settlements have encroached on the territories ever since.
Most of the world recognises these settlements as illegal and global leaders called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull back from the annexation plan, which he threatened to carry out on July 1.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the possible move as a breach of international law in an article published in an Israeli newspaper last month.
The EU, UN and Arab rulers also called on the Israeli government to refrain from going through with the plan.
About three million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank, which is also home to about 430,000 settlers.
Under the terms of the US peace plan, Washington recognises the settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of Israel.
The proposal, which seeks to bring about 30 per cent of the West Bank under permanent Israeli control, was rejected by Palestinians, who would be left with enclaves surrounded by occupied territory.
Most of the international community supports a twostate solution, which envisions an independent Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, with agreed land swaps.
The Palestinians also want East Jerusalem, currently occupied, as their capital, but the future of Jerusalem is considered a final status issue to be decided only in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
Mr Netanyahu’s July 1 deadline passed without incident, but Israeli Minister of Regional Co-operation Ofir Akunis said annexation was expected to go ahead this month.