INTERVIEW DU MINISTRE DES AE PAR NOS AMIS DE « AL MONITOR »

Israel already suffering ‘strategic defeat’ with global outcry over Gaza, Jordan’s FM says

Any discussion of Gaza’s future must include an “irreversible plan” for Palestinian statehood, Jordan’s foreign minister told Al-Monitor as he and regional counterparts met in Washington hoping to forge consensus with the United States on ending Israel’s destructive war in the Hamas-ruled territory.

“There can be no Gaza-alone approach,” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who also serves as Jordan’s deputy prime minister, said in a wide-ranging interview. « The answer to the problem has to look at the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and Gaza as one entity.” 

During a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, Safadi and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority reiterated their calls for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The high-profile delegation is representing the Arab League and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation. 

The United States supports temporary “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting to secure the release of the more than 130 remaining hostages and allow for much-needed aid to reach Gaza, where Israel has been battling Hamas since the militant group’s surprise attack that killed some 1,200 people. On Friday, the United States used its veto on the UN Security Council to block a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, which the Biden administration says would allow Hamas to regroup.

“Our message is very, very clear,” Safadi said. “Stop the war, allow for sufficient humanitarian assistance to enter into all of Gaza — south and north — protect civilians and then move immediately towards a once-and-for-all answer to this conflict, whose only path would be a two-state solution.”

The Biden administration’s full-fledged support for Israel as it battles the militants responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks puts it at odds with close US partners in the region, including Jordan, whose citizens have repeatedly taken to the streets to protest a war they see as enabled by the West. 

The international outcry against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has already caused Israel to suffer a « strategic defeat » with regard to global opinion, Safadi said.