Jordan: Annexation of Jordan Valley would blow up peace process

Jordan: Annexation of Jordan Valley would blow up peace process

Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, warned on Thursday that an Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley would “blow up the foundations of the peace process and destroy the two-state solution”, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Wafa news agency reported.

Safadi was quoted in the report as having said that the ongoing Israeli measures to “expand settlements, confiscate Palestinian land, and declare plans to annex the Palestinian part of the Jordan Valley are illegal measures that violate international law and kill hope that peace can be achieved.”

He warned that Israel’s efforts to undermine the two-state solution through its illegal measures aimed at imposing new facts on the ground, threaten to kill all chances of achieving a lasting peace.

The minister pointed out that King Abdullah II has been spearheading intensive and continuous efforts to launch an effective international movement to resolve the conflict on the basis of a two-state solution, and to confirm the centrality of the Palestinian issue.

He maintained that Jordan will continue to work with the international community and in coordination with Arab countries to achieve peace on the foundations that guarantee its viability and acceptance by the region’s peoples.

Safadi’s comments came as the White House announced that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz have both accepted the Trump Administration’s invitation to the White House next week to discuss the administration’s upcoming Middle East peace plan.

The PA reacted angrily to the invitation, with PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, stressing PA’s “total opposition” to the peace plan.

Earlier this week, both Netanyahu and Gantz spoke in favor of annexation of the Jordan Valley.