King Abdullah warns annexation would have 'major impact' on Israel ties - The Jerusalem Post

Jordan's King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 25, 2018. (photo credit: CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS)

With Israel and Jordan set in a month to mark 25 years to their peace agreement, Jordan's King Abdullah warned that Israeli annexation of the West Bank would have a “major impact” on ties between the two countries.

Abdullah, in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, said that he took Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pre-election statement regarding annexation with a “pinch of salt” because of the timing.

However, he added, “a statement like that does not help at all, because what you do is hand the narrative to the worst people in our neighborhood. We -- who want peace and want to be able to move forward -- tend to be more isolated.”

In the days before the September 17 voting, Netanyahu said that if elected he would immediately annex the Jordan Valley, and that – after that and in consultation with US President Donald Trump – would extend sovereignty to other settlements and “vital areas.”

"If the policy is to annex the West Bank, then that is going to have a major impact on the Israeli-Jordanian relationship and also in the Egyptian-Israeli relationship, because we are the only two Arab countries that have peace with Israel,” Abdullah said.

“If there is a box that is being ticked on a certain government getting everything that it wants, without giving anything in return, what is the future, where are we going to go unless we are going to be able to get Israelis and Palestinians to come together, to live together, and be the message for the future?” he asked.

Abdullah said that once a government is formed in Israel, countries in the region and the international community “will all jump on board and say we can focus back on what most of us believe is the only solution: the two state solution.”

A one state-solution, he said, would be “an apartheid future for Israel, which I think would be a catastrophe for all of us.”

Mitchell, in her first question to Abdullah on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, appeared to absolve the Palestinians of any responsibility for the current diplomatic stalemate, and implied that the Palestinians have been boxed out of the diplomatic porcess, rather than having made the choice themselves not to deal with the Trump administration's peace team.

“Is this a critical moment where the two state solution is – some fear – all but dead, because of US and Israeli policies,” she asked. “The Palestinians have been shut out of the process. Jerusalem is now the capital - no longer a negotiating point for a final solution. So where do we stand now, given how supportive the US has been of Netanyahu's policies , and this has shut out the Palestinians from any role in diplomacy?”

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https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/King-Abdullah-warns-annexation-would-have-major-impact-on-Israel-ties-602686

2019-09-24 09:52:00Z
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