“We are at a crossroads. We either allow racists and extremists to formulate the future path, and this is a path that will certainly take us to more conflict and more violence; towards disaster, or we work together. “We who want peace. We want to stop this deterioration and for the sake of calm and in to find a real political horizon to re-start serious and effective negotiations to resolve the conflict based on the two-state solution…,” Safadi said. He noted Jordan’s “special” role in safeguarding Muslim and Christian sanctities in occupied Jerusalem, adding that protecting the holy sites is a “basic priority” for His Majesty King Abdullah II. Safadi condemned the hateful speech of the Israeli finance minister, who stood on a podium that shows a purported map of “larger” Israel with the Palestinian occupied territories and Jordanian territories and alleged the Palestinian people do not exist and are a recent “invention,” urging the international community to come together to counter hate speech. “These statements are racist, inflammatory, extremist, denying the existence of the Palestinian people, denying their identity, denying their culture, denying their civilisation; all from a platform that contained an alleged map of Israel that includes the occupied Palestinian territories and includes the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” he said. Safadi commended Germany for its “clear” position against racism, incitement and extremism, noting the “need” to respect the international law. On Syria, Safadi said Jordan calls for ending the Syrian crisis, not managing it, because the repercussions of that are catastrophic for the Syrian people and the region. For her part, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Jordan and Germany enjoy “strong” ties and noted the “importance” of coordinating with Jordan to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories in the way of realising regional stability and security. “Jordan is a key ally of ours, and it is important that we continue to work together to address challenges,” Baerbock said. She added that the conflict has flared up in the Middle East in the previous months and weeks, praising the Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh meetings to stop the deterioration in the occupied Palestinian Territories. “The two-state solution remains the best solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” she added. She affirmed the commitment of Germany and the EU to support the recommendations of the Aqaba meeting. She added that Germany “will remain” a partner of Jordan’s in efforts to achieve economic development and youth empowerment and in the fields of environment, energy, and education.
Source: Jordan News Agency