Israel can live in peace with Arab states if Palestinian state established: Jordan FM

Arab countries are “willing to guarantee the security of Israel” if Israel ends its occupation and a Palestinian state is established, Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi said during a press conference held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“All of us in the Arab world here, want a peace in which Israel lives in peace and security, accepted, normalized with all Arab countries in the context of ending the occupation, withdrawing from Arab territory, allowing for the emergence of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Safadi said on Friday shortly after Benjamin Netanyahu gave his speech.

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“The Israeli prime minister came here today and said that Israel is surrounded by those who want to destroy it,” he told the press.

“We are here, members of the Muslim-Arab committee, mandated by 57 Arab and Muslim countries, and I can tell you very unequivocally all of us willing to right now guarantee the security of Israel in the context of Israel ending the occupation and allowing for the emergence of a Palestinian state,” the Jordanian minister said.

Netanyahu “is creating that danger because he simply does not want the two-state solution. If he does not want the two-state solution, can you ask Israeli officials what is their end-game — other than just wars and wars and wars?”

“The amount of damage that this Israeli government has done — 30 years of efforts to convince people that peace is possible, this Israeli government killed it. The amount of dehumanization, hatred, bitterness, will take generations to navigate through,” the Jordanian minister added.

Israel is only thinking about “destroy[ing] Gaza, inflame[ing] the West Bank, destroy[ing] Lebanon,” according to Safadi.

“We have no partner for peace in Israel, there is a partner for peace in the Arab world, and that’s why the international community needs to move.”

Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip has reduced the territory to rubble and killed at least 41,586 people since October 7. The Israeli government said it launched its war in retaliation for the Hamas attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 100 were taken hostage.

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