(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)
Cairo, July 10 (Petra) -- Foreign
Minister Ayman Safadi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aty Wednesday discussed the ties, cooperation, regional developments and the Israeli war on Gaza.
Safadi and Abdel-Aty discussed efforts to stop the Israeli war in Gaza and the delivery of "sufficient and sustainable" humanitarian aid across the enclave after over 9 months of war.
In a joint press
conference after the meeting, Safadi congratulated Abdel-Aty on his appointment as foreign minister and wished him success in building on the "strategic historical" relations between the two countries.
He said, "These are distinguished relations, moving forward clearly, led by His Majesty King Abdullah II and His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to broader horizons of cooperation at all bilateral levels, as well as coordination in facing the grave challenges that we face together in our region."
He added, "We in Jordan are fully aware of the Arab Republic of Egypt's important role and that of joint coordination, which is the hallmark of our work in countering all these challenges."
Safadi added, "Our bilateral relations are strong, and we are working together within specific mechanisms to increase cooperation within their framework to strengthen these relations and serve the interests of the two countries and the two brotherly peoples.
"We also work together to serve our Arab issues and for security, stability and achievement in our region."
Safadi explained, "There are institutional mechanisms to push this cooperation forward through the Joint Higher Committee, chaired by the two countries' Prime Ministers.
"There is much that we have accomplished at the bilateral level under the direct guidance of His Majesty and His Excellency the President, and there is much that we are working on. We are confident that it will bring goodness and benefit to our countries, our people and our region."
Safadi added, "We emphasised once again the consistency of our positions regarding the challenges we face, especially the Palestinian issue, which we deem the central issue, the first issue and the basis for all of us."
He added, "Unfortunately, in the 278 days of brutal Israeli aggression against Gaza, Israel committed war crimes unprecedented in modern history in terms of killing children and UN relief workers and in terms of destroying an entire society and targeting hospitals, schools, mosques and churches.
He added, "This is a major challenge, and our joint efforts are still aimed at stopping this aggression and ending the humanitarian catastrophe it causes, which is worsening daily."
He added, "The situation has worsened significantly. In previous stages, the number of trucks entering Gaza rose to a few hundred, but recently, the number has declined to no more than 40 trucks with a similar number coming from Jordan.
"What is responsible for this is the illegal Israeli measures and their obstruction, not Only for the entry of aid but also obstructing the entry of this aid by not providing a safe environment for United Nations organisations that distribute aid and certainly by occupying the Rafah crossing."
He said, "We stand with the position of our brothers in Egypt regarding the Rafah crossing and the necessity of the Israeli occupation forces leaving it so that aid can flow into Gaza."
Safadi added, "The issue of UNRWA is fundamental; no organisation is capable of doing what the agency does, and the agency is targeted, and it is the target of a political assassination by the Israeli occupation authorities.
"This preceded the events of October 7th. Israel wanted to liquidate the agency because this is a step towards its project to liquidate the Palestinian issue and the abolition of the refugee issue, which is a fundamental final status issue that must be resolved according to United Nations resolutions in a way that guarantees the return and compensation of refugees as part of a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue based on the two-state solution."
He added, "We are now facing conditions that are getting worse, and yesterday there was Israeli aggression that constituted another war crime in the bombing of refugees in Khan Yunis.
"Not a week goes by without us seeing more innocent Palestinians being targeted in places of refuge, whether UNRWA schools or other camps, and we once again confirm the need for the international community to take action, stand by international law and our common humanity and take real, effective measures to stop this Israeli aggression and stop the war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people."
He said, "There is no justification for the continued international inability to stop this aggression. There is no justification for the continued failure to implement international law.
"Israel has turned Gaza not only into a cemetery for Palestinian children but also into a cemetery for international law and shared humanitarian values. This will have consequences for years to come in terms of losing the credibility of international law and the credibility of joint international action."
Safadi said, "We are working with our brothers in the Arab Republic of Egypt, with our brothers in the region and with our friends in the international community to stress the necessity that this war must stop immediately and that nothing justifies the inability of the international community to bring in the aid."
He added, "The numbers speak for themselves in terms of the number of women and children who were killed during this war and the number of schools and buildings that were destroyed."
Safadi said, "The issue of displacement is a red line for Jordan and Egypt, and His Majesty the King and His Excellency the President have confirmed this more than once.
"We do not accept the displacement of Palestinians outside the occupied Palestinian territory or inside the occupied Palestinian territory, and we warn that the continuation of aggression creates the environment that will push people to flee from the hell that Israel imposed on Gaza."
He added, "Our effort continues in this regard with full coordination and consultation, and we reject any approach to Gaza on the so-called next day that does not consider Gaza as part of the occupied Palestinian territory and that any approach to Gaza must be part of a comprehensive approach that addresses the situation in all of the occupied Palestinian territory, including occupied Jerusalem and is moving towards implementing a plan whose ultimate goal is clear in implementing the two-state solution."
He added, "We cannot return to a process that has no real prospects, and what is clear that the world must also realise is that it cannot leave the region's fate in the hands of the most extremist government in the history of Israel and allow Netanyahu and the extremist ministers in his government to impose their destructive abolitionist agenda, which does not even recognise the humanity of the Palestinian people."
Safadi said, "What is happening in the West Bank are measures that we describe in one word as killing all chances of achieving regional peace because they undermine the two-state solution and chances of embodying the Palestinian state by confiscating lands, expanding the construction of illegal settlements, attacks on the Palestinians and allowing terrorism."
He added, "The settlement activity will take more Palestinian lives and destroy their property, and this is a real danger that we warn against because if the situation explodes in the West Bank, the possibilities of expanding the war regionally will increase, and the international community must once again stand where it says it stands on international law."
He said, "The confiscation of lands is illegal, and therefore when we see that Israel confiscated more Palestinian lands in 2024 than it did over the past 30 years, we are facing a real Israeli effort to annex the entire Palestinian lands.
"We strongly condemn the Israeli government's decision to take the responsibility of administering the occupied Palestinian Territories from the Palestinian Authority and give it to the Civil Administration, which is headed by an extremist minister who denies the humanity of the Palestinians, rejects their right to life, and rejects their right to statehood."
He warned of the danger of a spillover to the war in Lebanon, urging preserving Lebanon, its security and stability and preventing the expansion of the war from developing."
"[An expansion of the war] would entail greater destruction for the entire region and an attack on an Arab country that must remain safe and stable," Safadi said.
He added, "On Palestine, we take the same position. We want an immediate halt to this aggression, and we want an end to the use of starvation as a weapon and depriving the Palestinians of water, food, medicine and their right to medical] treatment and school."
He added, "More than 500,000 Palestinians did not go to school this year, and this is an indication of the future that awaits the entire region in terms of the frustration and despair that Israel is pushing the Palestinian people to their depths."
Safadi said, "We want a comprehensive solution that addresses the roots of the conflict, and the fundamental root of the conflict is the existence of a savage, illegal occupation with no prospects for its end.
"We call on the international community once again to stand by the principles that govern the international system of action and to take strict positions against the continuation of the occupation and against the [Israeli] occupation's crimes."
On the tripartite cooperation mechanism between Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, Safadi said, "This mechanism was formed when the leaders launched it as a building block in a broader Arab structure of cooperation, and we are continuing to work on pushing this mechanism to additional achievements because it is a benefit for all of us, a benefit for the region and a model for joint Arab action."
On the Syrian crisis, Safadi said, "We are all working to end the Syrian crisis on the foundations that guarantee Syria's unity, sovereignty and independence, rid it of terrorism and create conditions that guarantee the voluntary return of refugees until Syria is restored and the brotherly Syrian people regain their security, stability and right to a free and dignified life."
He said, "We are continuing our efforts based on the Arab initiative, and I am talking about activating the communication committee formed by the Arab League with Syria to meet according to the foundations that guarantee real outcomes that contribute to resolving this crisis and take us towards ending the suffering of the brotherly Syrian people and resolving this crisis on the foundations that I mentioned."
Safadi added, "We call on everyone to work towards creating conditions that allow this a voluntary return. We warn against the dwindling international support for refugees and host countries. Placing the burden of providing a decent life for refugees on the host countries alone is something we reject because without them [the international community] assuming all their responsibilities, we will not be able to provide the decent living that our Syrian brothers deserve."
He added, "What we discussed today mirrored a real concern that reflects the directives of the leaders to work together to serve our interests and our Arab and Islamic causes as part of a continued, well-established and sustainable consultation and coordination process.
"Egypt, for us, is an essential brother with its great role, which we respect and appreciate. We realise its real implications on realise to achieve regional security and stability."
He added, "For our Egyptian brothers who live in Jordan, they are among their families. The direct directives from His Majesty the King are for us to treat Egyptian brothers as dear guests as if they are in their second country. We highly appreciate all their efforts to raise the production process and work in Jordan."
Minister Abdel-Aty welcomed Safadi's visit, "This visit is dear and generous, and comes as part of intensive coordination and consultation between our two fraternal countries on various regional and international issues," training the "excellent and distinguished" relations between our two countries.
He said, "We talked about many important issues, the forefront of which was relations between Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and we talked about these relations within the framework of joint consultation and distinguished political, economic and social relations."
He added, "We talked about the role of Egyptian labour in Jordan and its role in the construction process in the Kingdom."
He said, "I took the opportunity during these fruitful and positive discussions with Minister Safadi to congratulate the Kingdom's government, leadership and people on the 25th anniversary of His Majesty King Abdullah II assuming the leadership of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
"We wish the Kingdom all the best and success in the comprehensive modernisation, construction and development under the directives of His Majesty the King. We look forward to more cooperation and coordination between our two countries."
He added that the discussions "represented an important and serious opportunity to emphasise the specificity of bilateral relations between the two countries under the auspices of the two countries' leadership and the importance of accelerating implementing all projects, initiatives and proposals related to our bilateral relationship."
He added that the joint higher committee headed by the prime ministers of Egypt and Jordan plays an "important" role in supervising the process of developing bilateral relations, adding that the 32nd session was held in Cairo last May.
He said the discussions included the exchange of visions on many regional and international topics, especially the Palestinian cause. "There was an agreement in our positions regarding the developments in the catastrophic conditions in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem."
He added, "Unfortunately, and amid shameful international silence, we are now approaching more than eight months of the process of systematic killing, destruction, and sabotage that is being carried out by the Israeli side in Gaza. There are more than 37,000 martyrs and 87,000 injured. Unfortunately, this killing and destruction is continuing."
He urged pressure on regional and international partners and the international community to ensure a ceasefire according to Security Council resolutions, the latest of which is Resolution 2735 and not just condemn the Israeli violations.
He added, "We talked about the issue of the catastrophic humanitarian and health situation in the Gaza Strip and the importance of unconditional and unrestricted access to humanitarian aid amidst blatant violations of international humanitarian law by preventing the arrival of this aid."
Abdel-Aty said, "Minister Safadi and I stressed our complete rejection of Israel's systematic policies to impose a new reality on the Palestinians that forces them to migrate to displace them from their lands and homelands, which ultimately leads to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause and the elimination of the principle of land for peace and the idea of ??the Palestinian homeland and the Palestinian state."
He added, "We talked about the disastrous conditions in the West Bank and the systematic and savage violence of settler gangs to terrorise our Palestinian people in the West Bank. We stressed Jordan's important and noble role in protecting the Islamic and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem and commitment to all arrangements for the existing legal and historical status of the Al Aqsa Mosque."
He added, "Together we affirmed the complete rejection of Israel's control over the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side, which led to the complete obstruction of aid delivery to the Palestinian people, who bear heavy burdens and are subjected to systematic aggression."
He urged the audience to the rules of international law and the rules of international humanitarian law, adding, "Israel's continued expansion of the scope of military operations in Gaza and the savage practices of settlers in the West Bank are a disgrace to the international legal system."
He noted the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA's) "vital and important" role in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, "There is no alternative to this agency, and its role cannot be dispensed with. This agency must be supported in performing its tasks under the General Assembly's resolution, far from any double standards in Dealing with humanitarian relief issues."
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