In an MSNBC interview, Abdullah warned that if Israel were to “to annex” Judea and Samaria, it would have “a major impact on the Israeli-Jordanian relationship.”
By World Israel News Staff
Jordan’s King Abdullah says that if a two-state solution is dropped from the diplomatic agenda, it would make Israel an apartheid state.
Once a new Israeli government is established, the Jordanian monarch told MSNBC, international and regional leaders “will all jump on board to say ‘can we focus back’ to what most of us believe: the only solution is a two-state solution.”
Israel launched a process with the Palestinians in 1993 in which the Palestinian Authority (PA) was granted self-rule with the ultimate aim of establishing a Palestinian state. However, rampant Palestinian terrorism and incitement against Israel have resulted in the inability to move ahead, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed off from his earlier statement of support for establishing such a state if demilitarized.
From 2000 to 2005, during what was known as the Second Intifada, a massive Palestinian uprising, some 1,000 Israelis were murdered in terrorist attacks. Israel took on upgraded security control in Judea and Samaria and built a barrier to cut down on the violence, but the PA has kept civilian control in the self-rule areas and also maintains security forces.
“If it’s a one-state solution…then we’re talking about an apartheid future for Israel which I think would be a catastrophe to all of us,” said Abdullah in the U.S. television interview.
The king is in New York for the annual opening of the U.N. General Assembly.
Netanyahu did not make the trip to the U.N. event, dispatching Foreign Minister Israel Katz instead, due to the efforts back in Israel toward establishing a new government coalition on the heels of the September 17 Knesset election.
Before Israelis went to the polls, the incumbent prime minister repeated a pledge to extend Israeli sovereignty over areas of Judea and Samaria, captured by Israel in 1967, better known in the international community as the West Bank.
Asked by MSNBC about the Israeli leader’s pledge concerning sovereignty, Abdullah replied: “I do take a pinch of salt in electioneering but a statement like that does not help at all because what you do is then hand over the narrative to the worst people in our neighborhood and we that want peace, want to be able to move forward, tend to be more isolated.”
He warned that if Israel were to adopt a policy “to annex” Judea and Samaria, it would have “a major impact on the Israeli-Jordanian relationship.”