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Jordan's King: Israel Annexing Settlements Would Be Disaster

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Jordan's King Abdullah II, left, address the media during a joint press conference after a meeting in Berlin, Germany, September 17, 2019. (AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Jordan's King Abdullah II, left, address the media during a joint press conference after a meeting in Berlin, Germany, September 17, 2019. (AP)
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Jordan's King: Israel Annexing Settlements Would Be Disaster

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Jordan's King Abdullah II, left, address the media during a joint press conference after a meeting in Berlin, Germany, September 17, 2019. (AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Jordan's King Abdullah II, left, address the media during a joint press conference after a meeting in Berlin, Germany, September 17, 2019. (AP)

Jordan's King Abdullah II warned Tuesday if Israel goes ahead with the idea of annexing all the settlements in the West Bank it would be a "disaster" for attempts to find any two-state solution with the Palestinians.

Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said he was "extremely concerned" about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to annex all the West Bank settlements.

He stressed it will "directly impact" the relationship between Israel and Jordan, and Israel and Egypt, and that "these types of statements are... a disaster to any attempt to move forward to the two-state solution."

Merkel agreed, calling Netanyahu's vow "unhelpful."

“The German government backs an internationally negotiated peace solution in the sense of a two-state solution ... annexations are always detrimental to peace solutions. They do not help and therefore we do not agree,” she remarked.

King Abdullah added: “We are looking on this with tremendous concern."

Scores of outposts, unauthorized by Israeli governments, dot the West Bank, in addition to some 120 settlements that have been built in the area since its capture in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Palestinians and many countries consider all Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under the Geneva Conventions relating to occupied territory. Israel disputes this, citing security needs and biblical, historical and political connections to the land.

Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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Israel, at UN, Warns Houthis Risk Sharing the Same Fate as Hamas, Hezbollah

Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN Danny Danon​ speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian question at UN headquarters in New York City, US, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN Danny Danon​ speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian question at UN headquarters in New York City, US, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel, at UN, Warns Houthis Risk Sharing the Same Fate as Hamas, Hezbollah

Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN Danny Danon​ speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian question at UN headquarters in New York City, US, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN Danny Danon​ speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian question at UN headquarters in New York City, US, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations issued on Monday what he called a final warning to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias to halt their missile attacks on Israel, saying they otherwise risked the same "miserable fate" as Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria's Bashar al-Assad if they persisted.

He also warned Tehran that Israel has the ability to strike any target in the Middle East, including in Iran, adding that Israel would not tolerate attacks by Iranian proxies.

The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli fire in Gaza.

"To the Houthis, perhaps you have not been paying attention to what has happened to the Middle East over the past year. Well, allow me to remind you what has happened to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to Assad, to all those who have attempted to destroy us. Let this be your final warning. This is not a threat. It is a promise. You will share the same miserable fate," Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon told the UN Security Council.

Speaking before the meeting, Danon told reporters: "Israel will defend its people. If 2,000 kilometers is not enough to separate our children from the terror, let me assure you, it will not be enough to protect their terror from our strengths."

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Houthis that Israel was "just getting started" following Israeli strikes on multiple Houthi-linked targets in Yemen, including Sanaa airport, ports on the country's west coast and two power plants.

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack by Israel. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said.

Israel's elimination of the top leaders of the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah and the destruction of their military structure along with Assad's collapse represent a succession of monumental wins for Netanyahu.

Briefing the Security Council meeting, Assistant UN Secretary General for the Middle East Khaled Khiari reiterated grave concern about the escalation in violence, calling on the Houthis to halt attacks on Israel and for international and humanitarian law to be respected.

"Further military escalation could jeopardize regional stability with adverse political, security, economic and humanitarian repercussions," Khiari said.

"Millions in Yemen, Israel and throughout the region, would continue to bear the brunt of escalation with no end."

Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, while condemning Houthi missile attacks on Israel, also criticized Israel's retaliatory strikes on Yemen, as well those by what he called the "Anglo-Saxon coalition" of US and British warships in the Red Sea, saying they were "clearly not proportional."