FM takes part in virtual Arab League ministerial meeting

AMMAN — The Palestinian cause, Arabs’ “first and foremost” issue, is the core of the conflict and resolving it according to criteria that guarantee the rights of the Palestinian people is “the only means” to realise a just and comprehensive peace, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Wednesday. 

Participating in the 154th ordinary meeting of the Arab League at the ministerial level through videoconference, Safadi said that peace can be realised through ending the occupation and establishing a free, independent and sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the pre-1967 lines according to international references.

"There will be no just, comprehensive peace as long as there is occupation whose continuous practices undermine all opportunities for peace and the pillars of the peace process, mainly the land for peace equation," Safadi added in a ministry statement.

The minister stressed that "we have to pursue work, in cooperation with the international community, to halt all Israeli procedures that undermine opportunities for the just peace that people accept", condemning all Israeli violations that target the Islamic and Christian Arab identity of the holy sites in Jerusalem. 

Protecting holy sites in Jerusalem is "a permanent and endless effort" that the Kingdom implements under direct instructions from His Majesty King Abdullah in his capacity as custodian of these holy places, he added.  

Safadi said that pan-Arab security is "whole and indivisible; any threat to any of our countries is a threat to the security of all". 

"We have to stand together in facing any intervention in our Arab affairs," he added. 

The minister said that the Arab role has to be "activated" in resolving the Syrian crisis. 

“This catastrophe has to reach an end through a political solution that Syrians themselves prepare to preserve the unity of their country and restore its security and stability”, so as to resume its role in the region and the joint Arab action and provide a conducive environment for the voluntary return of refugees,” he added.

Safadi also pointed out that Jordan supports all efforts that seek to reach a political solution to the Libyan crisis. He stressed the Kingdom's solidarity with Lebanon in facing the repercussions of August explosion at the Beirut port, according to the statement.

The minister also conveyed the Kingdom's stances that support Egypt and Sudan in their rights to the Nile water.

He also expressed Amman's full solidarity with Khartoum in facing the repercussions of the recent flash flood.