Jordanian Government Denounces Israeli Knesset’s Newly-Approved Bill on Jerusalem
Amman, MINA – The Jordanian government Tuesday denounced the Israeli Knesset’s approval of a bill that requires a two-thirds majority in the legislature to relinquish any part of Jerusalem under any future peace accord, according to Petra news agency.
Mohammad Momani, State Minister for Media Affairs and official government spokesman, said East Jerusalem is part of the territories occupied in 1967 and that Jerusalem is a final status issue that must be resolved through direct negotiations between the two parties in accordance with relevant international laws.
Momani stressed that all unilateral moves that aim to impose new realities on the ground or alter the status of Jerusalem are null and void under the international law, including the aforementioned bill.
The Jordanian official warned of the dangerous repercussions of the latest Israeli moves, including the Jerusalem bill and the decision of the Israeli ruling Likud Party to impose Israeli law on the illegal West Bank settlements, which he stressed, would undermine the two-state solution.
He stressed that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can only be resolved through the two-state solution; which guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He said that, ‘there is no alternative to the internationally-backed two-state solution to resolve the conflict and achieve security and stability in the region.’
Ashrawi criticism
From Ramallah, WAFA reported that Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Tuesday condemned the Israeli Knesset’s approval of a bill to place Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.
She said in a statement, “Such a law severely changes the status of Jerusalem and creates an illegal and extrajudicial Israeli and Jewish exclusivity over all of Jerusalem — a city whose status remains that of “corpus separatum” under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 (II).”
“Such legislation builds upon a long series of racist laws, proposals and measures that reveal Israel’s intent to erase the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem, destroy the territorial contiguity and demographic presence of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and to impose a de facto one-state solution,” Ashrawi added.
“Without East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, the chances for peace will be destroyed indefinitely.”
Ashrawi’s statement followed a meeting with Italian lawmaker Lia Quartapelle Procopio who was accompanied by Italian Consul General Fabio Sokoloicz at the PLO headquarters in Ramallah.
She briefed the Italian delegation on Israel’s illegal steps concerning Jerusalem and its status and reality on the ground, including Israeli unlawful measures of ethnic cleansing and the escalated expansion of the illegal settlement enterprise, home demolitions and revocation of Jerusalem identify cards. (T/RS5/RS1)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
