Jordan summons Israeli envoy over dual state idea

AMMAN (AFP) - Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh summoned the Israeli ambassador on Tuesday to
protest a reported proposal to set up a Palestinian state within the kingdom of Jordan.
Judeh summoned the Israeli ambassador today to inform him of Jordans protest and absolute rejection of the
proposal at the Knesset, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
A Jordanian official told AFP that the proposal was about creating two states on the two banks of the Jordan
River, one for the Israelis and one for the Palestinians.
The statement said Judeh demanded an official clarification from the Israeli government.
Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, believes in establishing an independent and viable
Palestinian state on Palestinian soil, he was quoted as saying.
This is a strategic Jordanian interest that comes in line with a two-state solution and the Arab peace initiative.
According to media reports, the idea of a Palestinian state within Jordan was put forward by Aryeh Eldads
right-wing National Union party, which has four MPs in the Knesset.
Meanwhile, top Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qorei said in an interview on Tuesday that they will not restart
peace talks with Israel unless it removes all roadblocks and freezes settlement activity in the West Bank,
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will present the conditions during his first official meeting with US
President Barack Obama in Washington on Thursday (tomorrow), Qorei said in an interview with the Haaretz
daily.
There will be no negotiations without a complete cessation of the settlements, including what you call 'natural
growth, he said, referring to construction in existing settlement blocks.
There will be no negotiations without an evacuation of the outposts established since 2001, he said, referring
to settlements in the occupied West Bank built without authorisation from the Israeli government.
Qorei reiterated the Palestinians refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state as demanded by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of a final agreement.
It was not our business. Call your state whatever you wish, he said.
Finally, the former Palestinian premier said that Israel would not be able to annex large settlement blocks like
Maale Adumim east of Jerusalem as part of a final settlement.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to tear down settlement outposts in the
occupied West Bank in return for US backing on its stance on arch-foe Iran, local media reported on Tuesday.
Netanyahu told his right-wing Likud faction on Monday that Israel would have to dismantle what it considers
illegal outposts, as demanded by Washington, since the issue of Iran was more important, newspaper reports
said. I identify the danger and thats why I am willing to take unpopular steps such as evacuating outposts. The
Iranian threat is above everything, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot quoted Netanyahu as saying.
There are things on which you have to compromise.