Jordanian monarch calls for 2-state solution with capital in Jerusalem

“Genuine security for either side — indeed, for the whole world — can only be achieved through the two-state solution,” Abdullah said, with eastern Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.

By Associated Press and World Israel News Staff

Jordan’s monarch recalled the 11-day Gaza War of this past summer in his speech before the United Nations, saying Tuesday the latest round of conflict was a reminder that the status quo is unsustainable.

The war in May was the fourth in Gaza since the Hamas Islamic terrorist group seized power in 2007.

More than 250 people were killed in Gaza, most of them civilians, including dozens of children and women, according to the U.N. There were 13 deaths in Israel. More than 4,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged.

“But how many more homes will be lost? How many more children will die before the world wakes up?” said King Abdullah, who delivered his pre-recorded remarks remotely to the U.N. General Assembly, though some 100 heads of state and government are attending in person amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Genuine security for either side — indeed, for the whole world — can only be achieved through the two-state solution.”

He reiterated that such a solution must result in an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side-by-side with Israel in peace.

Beginning on May 10, thousands of rockets were launched by the Iranian-backed Hamas terror organization from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli towns and cities.

In the initial barrage of over 150 rockets, two residents of the city of Ashkelon were killed and dozens were injured, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes. The attacks put hundreds of thousands of Israelis under the threat of rocket fire.

Since 2008, more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflicts, according to the U.N. While many were fighters for Hamas or other terrorist groups, more than half were civilians. On the Israeli side, the death toll from the four wars stands at 106, officials say.

According to the MFA, “the attacks perpetrated by the Hamas terror organization essentially constitute a double war crime: indiscriminate attacks on a civilian population originating from within a civilian population.”

“Moral responsibility for this deterioration and for those harmed on both sides falls entirely on Hamas and the terrorist organizations,” the MFA states.

King Abdullah called for the continued support of UNRWA, the UN agency that assists millions of Palestinian refugees, among them the majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents.

The Jordanian king is a close U.S. ally and his nation has custodianship over the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site and Islam’s third-holiest. The area was the scene of violent Arab riots and confrontations with Israeli security forces during the last days of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in May.

Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted that “extremist Palestinians planned well in advance to carry out riots” at the holy site. He attached photos from the compound showing piles of stones and wooden boards, weapons gathered for the rioters’ use.