Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Mideast stability vital for world - FM
AMMAN (JT) - Jordan on Tuesday warned that the
entire region will not enjoy stability and security without achieving a
comprehensive, just and lasting peace settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Establishing an independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian state with East
Jerusalem as its capital within the 1967 borders is a prerequisite to regional
peace, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh in a speech during the
third Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia that
opened in Istanbul Tuesday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Judeh pointed out that delaying the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict
threatens the peace and security of the entire world, highlighting the efforts
exerted by His Majesty King Abdullah to achieve a comprehensive and just peace
in the region on the basis of the two-state solution and the Arab Peace
Initiative.
Judeh added that the King’s efforts succeeded in creating a consensus on the
two-state formula as the only solution to the conflict that leads to the
emergence of the promised Palestinian state living in peace and security
side-by-side with Israel.
Judeh also emphasised that Israel is turning a deaf ear to all calls for peace
including the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 which was agreed upon by all Arab
leaders on the basis of the “land-for-peace principle”. He also noted that
Israel is not responding to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194
(1948) concerning the Palestinian refugees.
In addition, Judeh said that Israel should realise that the negotiations and
contacts currently taking place do not entail any compromise over the constants
of the joint Arab stand. On the contrary, he said, these talks are there to
assert these constants as far as Jordan and the Arabs are concerned.
The minister also expressed Jordan’s condemnation of `last week’s Israeli
assault against the Gaza-bound aid flotilla which was described by His Majesty
King Abdullah as a “rejected crime and a clear viloation to international law”,
calling for an independent international investigation of the Israeli naval
attack on the aid ship.
In addition, Judeh, in the name of Jordan, extended condolences to the families
and countries of the martyrs who fell as a result of the assault.
Judeh also called on the international community to take serious and immediate
steps to lift the illegal and inhumane blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza.
On the sidelines of the conference, Judeh met separately with the Japanese
government’s special envoy for peace in the Middle East, Yutaka Iimura, and
Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dipu Moni. He discussed with the officials means
to foster bilateral ties in different fields and efforts to achieve Mideast
peace.