The Palestinian issue has been and will remain the region’s central issue and no comprehensive peace or security or stability can be achieved without ending the occupation of Jerusalem which must be the capital of an independent Palestinian state on pre-June 1967 lines, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, said on Sunday.
Addressing an extraordinary virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Safadi emphasized that Jerusalem and its holy shrines are a red line, saying: “Protecting the Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem and preserving its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity will remain the supreme duty for which the Custodian, His Majesty King Abdullah II, devotes all of Jordan’s capabilities.”
He added that the Kingdom will continue to stand with all its capabilities on the side of the Palestinian brothers to end their injustice and fulfill all their legitimate rights to a free and dignified life and to an independent and sovereign state on their national soil.
“The Kingdom will take, as always, all the necessary steps to support the brothers, protect holy sites, protect the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, and the region’s right to a just and comprehensive peace that meets all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, which constitutes a strategic choice whose only way is the two-state solution, according to international legitimacy decisions and the Arab Peace Initiative,” Safadi indicated.
“Our emergency meeting today is a message that the Islamic world stands united against the illegal, immoral and inhumane Israeli attacks and practices in occupied Jerusalem and its sanctities and in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, and against the aggression on Gaza,” he said.
“Israel is pushing the entire region towards more tension and conflict, and threatening all chances of achieving a just and comprehensive peace,” Safadi warned.
The deputy premier stressed that stopping the escalation requires an end to all the illegal and provocative Israeli practices that set it off, and an immediate end to the aggression on Gaza.
Safadi emphasized that “attempts to change the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites are a flagrant violation of international law and risk pushing the region towards more tension and conflict.
He added that “displacing the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from their homes would be a war crime that the international community should not allow.”
“Peace and security will be achieved by ending the occupation and fulfilling all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and the launch of a real international effort that creates the political horizon required to reach a just peace according to the two-state solution that ends the occupation. This is a priority that the international community must act immediately to honor.”
Source: Jordan News Agency
