Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi held “Israel, as the occupying power, responsible for the dangerous situations in the occupied Palestinian territories, and for all that caused violence, killing, destruction and suffering.”
Speaking to a Security Council open session held Sunday via teleconference to discuss the recent Israeli escalation in Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Safadi said, “The escalation must stop by stopping the aggression on Gaza and stopping all illegal Israeli practices that basically sparked this escalation in occupied Jerusalem and in the rest of the Palestinian territories,” adding, “We must act immediately to achieve this and provide protection for the Palestinian people.”
He added, “What is confirmed by the dangerous situations in the Palestinian territories is the impossibility of continuing the status quo, including the devotion of the occupation, the absence of prospects for its demise, and the loss of hope for a just peace, whose chances are undermined by illegal Israeli practices.”
He stressed that “a just and lasting peace is a strategic option and a regional and international necessity. However, peace cannot be achieved by building settlements that undermine the two-state solution and constitute a flagrant violation of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy.”
He pointed out that “peace cannot be achieved by confiscating the occupied Palestinian lands. It cannot be achieved by demolishing Palestinians’ homes and displacing them from their them.”
He also stressed that “peace will not be achieved through attempts to change the legal and historical status quo in the Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem, and by attacking the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Qudsi Al-Sharif, which, with its entire area of 144 dunums, constitutes an exclusive place of worship for Muslims according to history and in accordance with international legitimacy decisions, including UNESCO’s.”
He added, “Jerusalem and its holy sites are a red line, and tampering with them is playing with fire and a provocation to the feelings of about two billion Muslims. As the occupying power, Israel bears the responsibility to respect the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem, in the City of Peace, and its holy sites.”
Source: Jordan News Agency