Israeli settlements undermine peace prospects, warns Jordanian FM
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi has warned that the Tel Aviv regime’s persistence on land expropriation policies and settlement construction activities in the occupied territories have undermined prospects for a peaceful settlement to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
On Monday, Safadi condemned Israeli officials’ recent decision to approve thousands of new West Bank settlement units, warning that the move would most likely escalate tensions in the region.
“Settlement building is an illegitimate, unilateral practice that serves to further entrench the [Israeli] occupation and undermine prospects for resolving the conflict,” he said in a statement.
Safadi urged the international community to “shoulder its legal and moral responsibilities” by pressuring Israel to stop building settlements on confiscated Palestinian land.
Such violations, the top Jordanian diplomat warned, “will only lead to further tension and violence, which in turn will adversely impact regional security.”
The remarks came a day after Israel’s so-called Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the advancement of a bill, which would authorize more than 60 Israeli outposts and settlement neighborhoods built in the West Bank over the last 20 years.
Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.
Trump backtracked on Washington’s support for a “two-state solution” earlier this year, saying he would support any solution favored by both sides.
“Looking at two-state or one-state, I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one both parties like. I can live with either one,” the US president said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on February 15.
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