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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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Gaza's Islamic Jihad Says Israeli Hostage Tried to Take Own Life

File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Gaza's Islamic Jihad Says Israeli Hostage Tried to Take Own Life

File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

An Israeli hostage held by Gaza's Islamic Jihad militant group has tried to take his own life, the spokesperson for the movement's armed wing said in a video posted on Telegram on Thursday.
One of the group's medical teams intervened and prevented him from dying, the Al Quds Brigades spokesperson added, without going into any more detail on the hostage's identity or current condition, Reuters reported.
Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Militants led by Gaza's ruling Hamas movement killed 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage in an attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas ally Islamic Jihad also took part in the assault.
The military campaign that Israel launched in response has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to health officials in the coastal enclave.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza said the hostage had tried to take his own life three days ago due to his psychological state, without going into more details.
Abu Hamza accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of setting new conditions that had led to "the failure and delay" of negotiations for the hostage's release.
The man had been scheduled to be released with other hostages under the conditions of the first stage of an exchange deal with Israel, Abu Hamza said. He did not specify when the man had been scheduled to be released or under which deal.
Arab mediators' efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to conclude a ceasefire in Gaza, under a possible deal that would also see the release of Israeli hostages in return for the freedom of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Islamic Jihad's armed wing had issued a decision to tighten the security and safety measures for the hostages, Abu Hamza added.
In July, Islamic Jihad's armed wing said some Israeli hostages had tried to kill themselves after it started treating them in what it said was the same way that Israel treated Palestinian prisoners.
"We will keep treating Israeli hostages the same way Israel treats our prisoners," Abu Hamza said at that time. Israel has dismissed accusations that it mistreats Palestinian prisoners.