FM lobbies UNSC members for 'effective, rapid' action against Netanyahu pledge

AMMAN — Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday urged the international community to take "effective and rapid" action against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement regarding his intentions to annex Israeli settlements, built illegally on occupied Palestinian lands, and to impose Israeli authority over the West Bank’s Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea regions.

During a meeting with the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to Jordan, Safadi called on the international community to take a "clear" stance and denounce the remarks, rejecting the announcement as a clear breach of international law and legislative decisions and escalation of regional conflict and violence.

Safadi noted that this is a “dangerous escalation that shatters the foundations of the peace process” and will lead to further violence and conflict in the region, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Talks also went over the "disastrous" consequences of the Israeli announcement on peacemaking efforts, highlighting that the implementation of the announcement would jeopardise the two-state solution, which is the only way to solve the conflict.

He urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russia, the US, the UK, France and China — to take the needed measures to stop Israel's illegal unilateral measures, a step that would protect the international law and reserve the right to live in conditions of peace and security. 

In addition, he called for exerting “real efforts” to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of a two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital, as the only way to achieve peace.

The announcement, among other Israeli unilateral measures that include the expansion of illegal settlements and the Israeli forces’ violations against Jerusalem’s holy sites, are a threat to regional and international peace and security, Safadi said, adding that this demands a “firm international stance” to confront the occupation’s undermining of peace and the peace process.

This meeting, aimed at building a decisive international stance to confront the Israeli Prime Minister’s announcement, is part of extensive diplomatic moves led by His majesty King Abdullah to mobilise international support for the Palestinians’ right to establish their independent state on their national soil, the statement added.

Later in the day, Safadi met with Luxembourg’s Minister of Immigration and Asylum Jean Asselborn, during which they discussed Israeli prime minister’s announcement regarding his intentions to annex Israeli settlements, built illegally on occupied Palestinian lands, and to impose Israeli authority on the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea regions, with Safadi stressing that it breaks international law and undermines peace efforts.