Jordan's king tells UN no alternative to two-state solution
Shortly after Trump tells UN General Assembly that US will not be 'held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies' when it comes to Israel-Palestinian conflict, King Abdullah uses platform at annual gathering to reiterate his support for solution based on pre-1967 lines with east Jerusalem as Palestinian capital.
“Only a two-state solution based on international law and relevant UN resolutions can meet the needs of both sides: an end to conflict, a viable, independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital, and a secure Israel, fully part of its own region, recognised by Arab and Muslim states around the world,” Abdullah said in his speech, delivered in English.
The remarks were made in defiance of what appears to be a shift in US policy away from the two-state solution to the decades-long conflict.
In September, the Jordanian government rejected an American peace plan that was allegedly presented to the Palestinians based on the concept of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation.
“Arab and Muslim countries are committed to a comprehensive peace; the Arab Peace Initiative has been on offer for more than 16 years,” Abdullah said as he continued his 12-minute speech.
“Indeed, every major country in the world, the UN, the European Union, all have worked to help the parties reach a durable peace that can last. The US administration has long been committed to peace, and has a leading role in our progress going forward,” he added.
Acknowledging that the world had a “long way to go”, Abdullah urged countries not to be deterred from attempting to solve the conflict.
The alternative, he argued, was one which would tie the world’s most strategic regions “to an endless cycle of violence.”
Seeking to emphasize the mutual repercussions of the ongoing conflict for both Palestinians and Israelis, the king asserted that the status quo of “continuing crisis and bigotry” only perpetuates a situation in which Palestinians are “displaced for generations” and in which Israeli families are compelled to live in “continuing national self-isolation; without the security of peaceful relationships worldwide.”
The leader of the Hashemite kingdom also categorically rejected the notion of a bi-national state “whose very foundation is a rejection of the equality of its own people.”
Any peace accord based on a bi-national state, he said, would constitute “the ugly, undemocratic reality.”
“It is by no means an alternative to a two-state peace settlement, it is an abandonment of peace, a new way to go AWOL from the work of reconciliation, and the opposite of what both sides need, and have sought for so long," he asserted.
In what appeared to be a jab and US President Donald Trump, Abdullah called on the world to reject his initiatives, hinting at the US administration’s halting of all funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which Palestinians complain will impact financing of schools and other institutions.
“Our countries need to pull together to get this peace process back on track. That means utterly rejecting actions that jeopardize negotiations, whether by illegal encroachments, land confiscations, or threats to the welfare of innocents, especially children,” he said, refraining from berating or even mentioningTrump directly.
“We need to support full funding of UNRWA and other vital efforts to protect families, keep communities stable, and prepare young people for productive lives. It would be a terrible mistake to abandon youth to the forces of radicalism and despair. Such support is urgently needed to ensure UNRWA fulfils its role, in accord with its UN mandate,” he said.
Turning his attention to Jerusalem, King Abdullah warned that the holy city’s future is not Jordan’s concern alone, and decisions relating to it could have “global implications” if they threaten religious worship or undermine international law.
Trump announced last December that the United States was officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and stated his intention to move its embassy there. In May he followed through on his promise.
Earlier, Trump told the UN General Assembly that he is committed to brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, stressing that the goal can only be advanced by acknowledging “obvious facts.”
“This year we also took another significant step forward in the Middle East in recognition of every sovereign state to determine its own capital. I moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem," Trump said in his 35-minute speech.
“America’s policy of principled realism means we will not be held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies and so-called experts who have been proven wrong over the years time and time again.”
