Germany: Two-State Solution Key to Palestinian-Israeli Peace

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)
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Germany: Two-State Solution Key to Palestinian-Israeli Peace

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday reaffirmed his country's support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict ahead of a long-awaited US peace plan.

"We are still in agreement that reaching a two-state solution through negotiations is the only solution," he told a press conference in Amman with his Jordanian counterpart.

"We and Germany agree that the two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

Washington is gearing up to roll out economic aspects of its plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month, but it is not yet clear when its political details will be unveiled.

The Palestinians have already rejected the deal, citing a string of moves by US President Donald Trump they say show his administration is irredeemably biased.

Maas and Safadi met a day after US ambassador to Israel David Friedman was quoted by the New York Times as saying Israel had the "right" to annex at least parts of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian leaders said the US envoy's comments showed "extremists" were involved in White House policy on the issue.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War and its construction of settlements there is viewed as a major stumbling block to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Friedman has in the past been a supporter of Israeli settlements as has the family of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser leading efforts to put together the peace deal.

Kushner has hinted that it will not endorse international calls for the creation of a Palestinian state.

Several UN resolutions have enshrined the two-state solution, which envisages separate homelands for Jews and Palestinians, as the path to a peace settlement.

Both ministers also stressed the importance of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, just weeks after the US called for it to be dismantled after cutting its roughly $300 million annual donation.

Jordan is home to nearly 2.2 million Palestinian refugees, who make up almost half of the kingdom's population.



Israeli Security Service Says 60 Hamas Members Arrested in West Bank

An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Security Service Says 60 Hamas Members Arrested in West Bank

An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel's security service said Sunday it had broken up a network of Hamas militants in the occupied West Bank suspected of planning attacks, arresting 60 of the group's members.

The Shin Bet internal security agency said in a statement that "a significant, complex, and large-scale Hamas infrastructure was exposed" in the West Bank town of Hebron, AFP reported.

It said it broke up 10 militant cells that "operated to carry out attacks in various formats in the immediate time frame".

Hamas leaders "worked to recruit, arm, and train additional Hamas operatives from the area to carry out shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli targets", according to the statement.

Shin Bet said the three-month joint operation with the military and police was its biggest investigation in the West Bank "in the past decade".

It said terrorism charges were being filed against the suspects.