‘Israeli-Arab deals no substitute for 2-state solution’

AMMAN: Jordan warned Israel on Tuesday that recent normalisation deals between the Jewish state and Arab countries could not replace a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue.

"Peace accords signed by Israel and Arab countries, including the peace treaty with Jordan, cannot be a substitute for the resolution of the Palestinian question," said Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in a statement.

"There is no alternative to a two-state solution as a route to a just and comprehensive peace." Safadi made the remarks during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Under deals brokered last year by the administration of former US president Donald Trump, four Arab countries -- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan -- normalised ties with Israel. Before that, only Egypt, in 1979, and Jordan, in 1994, had done so. Israeli-Palestinian talks have been stalled since 2014.

Safadi reiterated the long-held international consensus that a "just and comprehensive peace" would require "an independent Palestinian state with occupied Jerusalem as its capital", according to the statement from his ministry.